Sealocked
by CJMoor
Summary: Mid-S03 AU. Veridia decides she needs to stop Zac accessing the merman chamber at all costs. After a confrontation in the moon pool, the consequences of Veridia's plan are revealed and Zac's life may never be the same again.
1. Chapter 1

_Well, here's another idea that came to mind. This doesn't have a strict timeline, just know that Season 3 episodes 1-7 have already occurred, but episode 8 has not. It's AU from there. Chapters will be kind of short. I'm writing this here and there, so shorter chapters may mean quicker updates, but I've not finished this... not even completely sure where I'm going with it, but I figured I'd share it anyway - maybe inspire some more fics! Enjoy!_

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1.

Zac woke up in the water with a pounding headache and the taste of ozone on the back of his tongue. Slowly, he flexed his tail, starting at his fins and then stretching out until he was arching in the water. He slumped back, bobbing down a few feet before rising. He felt sore, but mostly in one piece.

Finally, he opened his eyes.

For a few seconds he could only focus on the fuzzy spots assaulting his vision. He blinked rapidly, hand moving to his forehead and massaging the area above his eye sockets and the sides of his temple. Eventually, the spots cleared and he stared straight up. He was in Rita's pool - he'd recognise the grotto ceiling anywhere.

He took a deep breath and let it out again.

What had happened?

He fished for the last thing he could remember. He'd gone to school, like normal, then the café, also like normal. What then? Oh, it had been a full moon, so the girls had decided to take him to the moon pool, rather than risk him being entranced by the chamber. Mimmi had thought that being in the moon pool would keep him occupied during the moon spell. Zac had reluctantly agreed. So he, Mimmi, Evie, Sirena and Ondina had met up in the moon pool just before the moon had peeked over the edge of the horizon.

He blinked again. Then what had happened?

They'd been in the moon pool, and then…

Then…

Zac's mind was blank.

Quietly, he rolled over, and despite the nagging ache behind his eyes, swam over to the edge of Rita's pool. He reached out, stabilising himself, but when he tried to heave himself out of the pool, his arms felt like jelly and he splashed back again, water covering his head until he he could push himself to the surface. He gasped and groaned. "Hello?" he rasped. "Rita? Mimmi? Someone?"

He waited a beat, and then suddenly there was a mad scramble of footsteps and the next thing he knew, his sister and her friends rushed down the stairs into the grotto and three familiar faces peered down at him. Mimmi beamed. "Zac! You're awake! Thank the moon!"

"Yeah," Zac grumbled. He reached out a hand. "Now, a little help?"

"You're wet," Mimmi pointed out.

Sirena took a step back. "I'll get some towels!" She dashed back around the corner.

Ondina took a few steps closer, until she hovered at the edge of the pool. She peered down at him, eyes assessing. "How do you feel?"

"Tired," Zac admitted. "Weak. Headache." He paused, darting them both looks when they exchanged glances. "What happened?"

Mimmi knelt down at the edge of the pool and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. She pursed her lips, eyebrows drawn. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Zac shrugged. His fingers tightened on the edge of the pool ledge. "We were in the moon pool. The moon came out...that's it. What happened?"

"Veridia," Ondina declared grimly, crossing her arms in front of her. She looked like she'd just sucked on something sour.

Zac sucked in a breath. "Veridia? What did she…? Did she attack?"

"Something like that," Mimmi murmured. Her hand reached out for Zac, like she wanted to put it on his forehead, or touch his hair, but she drew back at the last second, because he was wet and she was still on land.

Footsteps pounded back down the stairs and Sirena rounded the corner with a stack of towels. "Here!" she exclaimed breathlessly. "Let's dry his arms and then pull him out!"

It was as good a plan as any, so Zac raised his arms out of the water, above the ledge, and subjected himself to their rough towelling. Even holding his arms above his head while his tail beat the water slowly to keep him upright was a bit of a challenge. He kind of just wanted to go straight back to sleep. Once he was out and dry, he decided he'd do just that. Whatever Veridia's attack, it must have failed. He had a headache, some fatigue, but nothing else. A bit of rest and he'd be right as rain.

Finally, his arms were dry enough for Mimmi and Ondina to each grab one.

"On the count of three?"

Zac nodded, ready.

"One, two... _three!_ " They both heaved, while Zac did his best to propel himself upward. And just like that, they were dragging him over the edge of the grotto pool and onto the dry ledge.

They collapsed back, panting at his weight, and Zac pushed himself upright, sighing. Sirena stepped forward, another towel in hand. She crouched and offered it with a smile. Zac took it with a shaky one in return and slowly dabbed at his face, torso, and scales.

"You sure you're okay?" Mimmi asked after a few seconds of drying. Zac glanced up and nodded wordlessly. "It's just," she continued, "we were _sure_ Veridia had done something."

"Like what?" he asked, rubbing more firmly now, to get himself completely dry.

"She came in and immediately used her powers to pin us back. She shouted that if we weren't going to stop you, she would make sure you couldn't activate the chamber. She…" Mimmi paused, swallowing, "She held out her moon ring and...and you held out your hand...and the moon pool was bubbling and the moonlight was everywhere and, just…"

"Long story short, she tried to do _something_ , we just don't know what," Sirena finished. Then she reached over and draped a smaller towel over his still damp hair.

Zac reached up and rubbed it across his head, before letting it fall around his neck. "And that was last night?"

"You've been unconscious ever since," Ondina muttered, biting her lip. "We brought you back here, to be safe."

Zac paused in his drying, realising then that both Evie and Rita were missing. He glanced between them slowly. "Guys...where are Evie and Rita?"

They exchanged glances. Mimmi looked a bit sheepish. "They're, uh, at the land school?"

Zac's eyes widened and he scrambled to resume drying with slightly more vigour. "What?" he exclaimed. "So you're telling me I not only didn't go home last night, but I'm missing school? My parents are going to kill me!"

Mimmi reached out and captured his hand, stopping the frantic scratch of cloth over scale. "Zac, it's okay. Rita said she would excuse you."

Zac's tensed shoulders relaxed. "Okay. Okay, but I should probably still make sure my parents don't realise where I've been." He pulled the towel from around his neck and ran it over his skin one last time, hoping to catch whatever drops he'd missed.

Nothing. He rubbed the towels over his scales again. Maybe he was sitting in too damp of a wet patch? He shuffled himself a few feet, forcing Mimmi to scoot back from where she was sitting.

"Aren't you _dry_ yet?" Ondina complained.

"Getting there!" Zac grunted. He ran a dry hand over his scales. Which were dry - _too dry_. He frowned, feeling all the way down to his fin. Still dry. He reached behind, to his lower back and over his butt, but that also seemed dry.

He _felt_ dry. He swallowed thickly. So why wasn't he changing back?

"Zac?" Mimmi asked, eyes fixed on his frown.

"He should have changed back by now," Ondina realised, eyes widening. She stared at Zac's tail - still there - and reached out a hand. She hesitated before touching him, but he did nothing to stop her, still staring at his tail, which should have long since turned into legs. Her skin scraped over his scales roughly.

Mimmi also reached out and patted his fin. "It _is_ dry," she whispered, eyes rising to meet his in shock. "Why aren't you…?"

Zac swallowed again, shakily. He flung the towels off and patted himself all over, frantically. Dry tail. Dry arms. Dry hands. Dry stomach. Dry back. Dry _hair_.

"Oh no," Sirena whispered, hands clutched in front of her. "Is he…?"

" _Stuck_ ," Ondina finished faintly.

Zac felt his stomach drop. Shakily, he put a hand on his scales. His really dry scales. They felt leathery, not as smooth as normal, like they might be cracking. It wasn't pleasant. "N-no," he muttered. "That… _No!_ This can't… I can't be _stuck!_ Change me back!" He stared up at them frantically.

The girls all exchanged frantic looks. Mimmi bit her lip and Ondina groaned, covering her face.

Suddenly, Sirena gasped. "Our moon rings! Maybe all Veridia did was undo the spell for legs...we just have to recast it!" She held out her hand, moon ring glimmering. Quickly, Mimmi and Ondina scrambled up and went to join her. They all stood in a row in front of Zac, hands out, moon rings facing him.

He closed his eyes, trying to steady his breathing. It was okay. Whatever Veridia did, the girls could reverse it. He opened his eyes just in time to watch all three moon rings brighten. He turned his head, shielding his eyes. Seconds passed and he waited to feel that tell-tale tingle that heralded the return of his legs.

Nothing.

He squinted through the light of the moon rings, but his his eyes only confirmed what he already knew. His tail was still there.

The light died down and the girls lowered their arms, staring grimly down at him. Zac felt hysteria bubble up. "Why didn't it work? Why can't you change me back?"

Sirena held her hand with the ring and stared at it with a devastated expression. "It's not enough. We don't have enough power."

Mimmi rushed forward and fell to her knees beside him, eyes wide. Her mouth was pressed into a thin line. "Zac...Veridia must have...must have reversed the spell allowing you to have legs."

Zac blinked rapidly. "But _how?_ "

"It's possible," Ondina admitted with a frown. "All she had to do was reverse the magic that gave you legs."

"You can't...why can't you change me back?" he pleaded.

Mimmi covered his hand with her own, her eyes suspiciously shiny. She blinked a few times. "Zac, we're not powerful enough."

"It _should_ have worked," Sirena muttered, still staring at her ring. She raised her head. "But last night...it was a full moon, and we were in the moon pool."

Mimmi rocked back on her heels. "Of course," she gasped, eyes darting to his. "Veridia must have harnessed the power of the moon pool for her spell."

Ondina snorted, then let out a strangled chuckle. She inspected Zac's tail, now bone dry and beginning to really itch, and her mouth twisted into a grimace. "Think about it," she said. "Veridia wanted to 'stop' Zac from accessing the merman chamber...now he can't. How can he get to the chamber if he can't even leave the water?"

Zac felt like being sick. He doubled over, putting his elbows on his tail and clutching at his head. This...this wasn't happening. It _wasn't happening_.

He tried to calm his breathing, but it was shaky and getting steadily worse. Mimmi's hand found his shoulder. "Zac? It'll...It'll be okay."

He wrenched away, but because of the weight of his tail on land, all he managed was to pull his shoulder out of reach. He slammed his fists into the ground, ignoring the bruising pain of his fingers against the hard rock. "Don't you get it!" he shouted, voice clogged with emotion. He cleared his throat roughly. Those were _not_ tears! "I can't just… _I can't!_ What about school? And my parents? I can't just disappear! They'll send out search parties, inform the police! I can't live like this...I can't live without legs," he finished rawly, chest heaving and jaw trembling.

Ondina took a hesitant step forward. "We...Rita'll think of something, I'm sure. She'll have a solution."

"Right," Sirena agreed shakily. "I'll...I'll go call her. Right now!" With a last, scared look in his direction, she darted away, back up to the main house.

Zac snorted. "Do you really think Veridia would have made it possible to change me back?" he snapped angrily. He couldn't see a way around this. He was...god, he was _stuck_. As a merman. Forever.

What would he do? How would he live? Just...swim around Mako island for the rest of his life? What kind of existence was that?

What would he _eat?_ Where would he _sleep?_ How could he ever see his parents again? Finish high school? Talk to friends like David? See Evie at the café?

 _Evie!_

What would she think of this? There was no way she'd want a permanent merman boyfriend! And no way she'd agree to give it all up to live some mediocre life swimming around with fish for the rest of her days!

He covered his face again, breathing heavily through his nose to stave back tears.

Why was this happening? Why him? What was Veridia so afraid of! He hadn't hurt anybody… Why would she do this? Didn't she know he had parents who would look for him?

"Zac," Mimmi tried again, her voice barely more than a whisper. She reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her head pressed against his and she sighed, deeply. "Don't worry, we _will_ fix this. I promise."

Zac shook his head. How? How could they fix this?

Mimmi drew back and patted his hand.

"You should get back in the water," Ondina said after a stretch. "You'll dry out completely, it's bad for your scales."

Zac snorted. He did feel itchy and dry. Like his scales were too tight on his tail and every time he flexed his muscles, it felt like he was trying to break open a shell encasing his fins.

"Please don't do that to yourself," Mimmi added quickly. She was biting her lip again. "Come on, I'll go with you. We can go swim, get our minds off of this, and then when we come back, I'm sure Rita will have a solution."

Zac opened his mouth to tell her she was delusional. The moon rings hadn't worked. What other solution could there be? But Mimmi's eyes were so hopeful and the smile on her lips so encouraging, that the anger drained out of him and his shoulders slumped. He found himself nodding instead.

Mimmi stood up and turned to Ondina. "Tell Rita we'll be back after her land school gets out."

Ondina nodded. The look she shot Zac was far less hopeful. Zac ignored it. Instead, he pushed himself towards the ledge of the pool and slipped back in with a heavy splash.

The second the water hit his scales, he felt immediately better. His skin stopped feeling so tight and stretched. Part of his headache also cleared up. Moments later, there was a splash as Mimmi dove in as well and re-emerged, hair slicked back and tail pumping slowly to keep her afloat. She caught his eye and jerked her chin towards the ocean before ducking back under water.

Zac closed his eyes for a moment, as he tried to forget about everything he had just learned in the last ten minutes. Then he ducked under and followed his sister.

Maybe...maybe Mimmi was right. Maybe Rita _would_ fix this? Maybe there was a secret potion, or an obscure spell they could try.

He hoped so, because if he were stuck like this forever...he didn't know what he would do.

* * *

 _[17.6.15] Well, there we have the premise of the story. Let me know what you think (characterisation, errors, etc.). Cheers all._


	2. Chapter 2

_Second chapter, finally! Enjoy!_

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2.

Mimmi tried to be cheerful, for his sake, but Zac could tell that a lot of her cheer was over-compensating for his gloom. He followed her through the reef around Mako as she collected bits and pieces - seaweed, urchins, and some small silver fish, which she killed with a quick strike against a rock, so they wouldn't swim away.

Zac probably should have been a bit disturbed by how casually she used her power to trap the fish and kill them, but he felt a little too numb with shock over his predicament to really care. When she handed the dead fish to him with a smile, he just took it and followed her back to the moon pool.

Veridia was gone, of course. No one was there and nothing looked out of place. Mimmi arranged her catch on one of the shelf ledges thoughtfully, sorting through them until she had split it evenly.

"Go ahead," she said, when Zac merely stared at her blankly, still holding the dead fish.

Mimmi sighed and pried the fish out of his hands. She split those as well and narrowed her eyes at him. "Zac, you haven't eaten yet. Eat."

Zac stared down at the collection of extremely fresh, uncooked seafood. Was this what he had to look forward to now? Nothing cooked, ever again. You couldn't exactly cook something underwater, now could you? No more café juices or sweets - what about cake and chocolate and ice cream?

He picked up a piece of seaweed doubtfully.

Mimmi rolled her eyes. "Don't be a picky eater, just eat it!" She bit into her own seaweed, chewed and swallowed.

Zac's stomach chose that moment to growl. He _was_ hungry. Slowly, he copied her. It was...surprisingly okay. He had expected it to taste weird and slimy, but it was...pleasant. Like soft, slightly salty, but watery lettuce.

Mimmi cracked open the urchin and scooped out the inside with her fingers, dropping it onto the ledge. "Mmm, I love sea urchin." She licked each finger and dunked the thing back in the water. Some purple, inky liquid seeped out and quickly dissipated. Then Mimmi raised it again and scooped out the yellow bits that Zac was more familiar with and popped one into her mouth.

Zac stared at his skeptically. It was still alive - moving, even. And covered in spikes. Eventually, his sister sighed, reached out and grabbed it herself. She cracked it open, went through her little cleaning ritual, and held it out expectantly. He took it and peered inside. Several lumps of yellow were attached to the inside of the urchin and he used his fingers to scoop them out.

He'd had urchin before, he'd just never quite realised how one might go about preparing it. He put it out of his mind, as his stomach was grumbling still, and quickly ate every last scoop.

"Ondina doesn't like urchin," Mimmi told him with a grin. "She says the taste is too strong. But I knew you'd like it."

Zac shrugged, staring down into his empty sea urchin shell. Would he have to learn to do all of this? Cracking open sea urchins and bashing fish against rocks to kill them? He looked up just in time to watch Mimmi simply dig her teeth straight into one of the small silver fish and rip off a strip of meat - scales and all.

"This is like the complete opposite of _The Little Mermaid,_ " Zac blurted in horrified fascination.

Mimmi paused and tilted her head. Slowly, she finished her mouthful. Her brow wrinkled as she asked, "What little mermaid?"

"Never mind." He shook his head quickly and picked up a dead fish by the tail. He watched Mimmi finish the first one - only leaving behind the spine and head bones as she sucked out the eyeballs. He wanted to wince.

Mimmi's tail nudged his own. "Zac, come on, it'll be okay. Just...think of this as a lesson in merman survival for now." She smirked as she discarded her fish bones. "Moon knows you're as helpless as a hatchling. What, do you want me to eat the fish for you as well?"

Zac grumbled. "Yeah, well, my land survival skills are ten times better than yours."

Mimmi shrugged. "Yeah, but you're a merman, so really, what's more important?"

The fish was still dangling by its tail from his fingertips. Zac scowled at her and quickly bit into it, more to prove her wrong, than anything. It...it wasn't bad. He was used to cooking his fish, but honestly, it probably made no difference in the end. The flavour was actually stronger this way - sharp and clean - which was kind of nice.

Together, they finished everything Mimmi had caught, and Mimmi gathered the remains and darted back out of the pool to dispose of them somewhere where it wouldn't attract sharks.

As Zac waited, he brooded. He glanced down at his tail and watched the scales shimmer in the water. He had never imagined, not once, that he would ever be denied _land_. Even knowing he had always been a merman, he still ultimately thought of himself with legs. That was his 'normal' form, even if he knew in his mind that it wasn't his original form.

His legs were such an integral part of his self-image. He had never even contemplated that someone could ever take them _away_.

And why not? They weren't his. Not _originally_. Magic had given him legs, so why hadn't he realised that magic could just as easily take them away again?

He'd been so worried about mermaids trying to take away his tail, he'd never once contemplated they might try to take his legs.

Now it was too late.

Mimmi returned, swimming past him and breaching the surface of the water. She regarded him with solemn eyes. "Zac, we'll fix this."

He looked away from her sincere, determined expression. "And if we don't?"

Mimmi swam closer until her tail brushed his. She wrapped her arms around him in a hug and spoke into his shoulder. "You'll always have me. I'm not going to leave you. Maybe we could even go find our mother - find out the truth?"

Zac let out a shaky breath, right into her wet hair. There was always that - Mimmi was right.

"But what about my parents? They'll think I've been kidnapped, or worse, killed! They'll be looking for me. And even if we do find a way to fix this...how long will it take? What will they say if I disappear and then reappear several weeks later with no explanation for why I was gone?"

Mimmi squeezed him tighter for just a second and then let go, shifting back again. The expression on her face was no longer optimistic, but her jaw was set and her eyes were filled with compassion. "I don't know, Zac. We'll just have to take this one step at a time, okay? We'll figure it out, like we always do."

Zac bit his lip. Somehow, he didn't see a way of getting out of this one. He hoped to god Mimmi was right, but… he just didn't have the same faith that she did. This time he was sure that it wasn't all going to work out.

A yawn suddenly cracked open his jaw and Mimmi made a sound in the back of her throat that was maybe a squeak, maybe a laugh. "You're tired," she observed.

"Yeah...I still feel a bit off," he admitted.

"You can nap here, if you want." Mimmi gestured to the pool and it suddenly hit Zac that there were no beds in the ocean.

He opened and closed his mouth, trying to figure out how to ask what must be a ridiculously obvious question. Mimmi was right - he _was_ like a - how did she say it? - _hatchling._ He didn't even know how to _sleep_. Or if he even could. How was he supposed to get comfortable?

Mimmi must have read some of the conflict on his face, because she swam over to the other side of the pool and said, "Like this. Just...lay back and close your eyes. The water buoys you up and you just float."

Zac watched her skeptically. Just...float on his back? Then again, did he really have a choice? It wasn't like he could haul himself onto the beach, or a rock. He'd dry out, or worse, someone might see him.

Floating it was, then.

He copied his sister, settling onto his back until he was staring up into the sky high above through the opening in the top of the pool. Hesitantly, he let himself go limp until he was floating there, just like she had said. The water surrounded him, holding him there, with no effort on his part. He closed his eyes and as soon as he did, the fatigue hit him anew and he realised just how tired he really was.

It didn't take long after that to drop off.

* * *

Mimmi woke him in time to return to Rita's after school let out. Zac felt better - his headache was gone and he didn't feel like a newborn kitten anymore. His stomach was rumbling again after his rest, and he hoped Rita might spare some food from her fridge.

As they swam back towards Rita's grotto, Zac felt like he had a ball of electric eels writhing in the pit of his stomach. Part of him didn't want to hear the words from Rita's mouth when she told him that there was nothing she could do. The rest of him hoped in desperation that she would tell him she had a cure and that everything would be back to normal soon.

He had a feeling that hope was more of a fool's dream than anything.

He and Mimmi surfaced in the grotto to find that everyone had already taken seats on the ground. Zac realised that they couldn't exactly talk to him back in the cave with the comfortable seats, which was probably why they had arranged piles of cushions to sit on. Evie was there, sitting quietly next to Sirena. She stared at him with wide eyes when he caught her gaze.

Zac expected Mimmi to get out of the pool and join them, but to his pleasant surprise, she merely settled next to him in the pool, shoulder to shoulder in a show of solidarity. He was grateful for her support. This would be ten times worse without here there to lean on.

Rita, sitting cross legged in khakis and a flowing top, cleared her throat the moment they were all settled. "Zac, Mimmi, it's good you're here."

Zac swallowed thickly, waiting for his sentence to pass her lips - _you're stuck, Zac, I'm sorry._

Rita leaned forward, eyebrows furrowed gravely, lips a hard line. "The girls filled me in on what happened. I have to admit, I never suspected Veridia would try something like that, but I should have thought of it." She shook her head, eyes softening. "Zac, I'm sorry. I didn't think about what might happen if…" She trailed off, sighing. "But no use crying over spilt milk. What's done is done."

"Are you really stuck like that?" Evie whispered after Rita fell silent.

Zac closed his eyes and nodded. "Yeah," he whispered roughly.

Rita sighed again. "It's not that he's _stuck_ , Evie, it's that Veridia has reversed the original magic Nerissa placed on him to give him legs. He's back to his original form, and her removal spell is somehow more powerful than our ability to reapply the transformation spell. She must have placed another spell on him, a block." She reached up and rubbed her brow. "The problem, it seems, is that she amplified her power with the full moon while in the moon pool. That's a powerful combination."

Zac was not liking the sounds of this. He raised himself further out of the water, gripping the edge of the pool with white knuckled fingers. "So what?" he demanded. "It can't be reversed?"

Rita shook her head. "No, the good news is that it can. We merely need the power of the full moon in the moon pool to remove Veridia's magic."

Zac sagged in relief, forehead falling to rest on the ledge. Thank god. It was reversible.

"But that's a month away!" Mimmi exclaimed.

"Zac can't be gone for a whole month!" Evie agreed, sounding aghast.

Zac slowly raised his head, eyes widening in comprehension. His stomach clenched and he swallowed convulsively. They needed a full moon. Full moons only happened once a month. He was stuck like this... _for a whole month_.

He breathed in, deeply, trying to stem back the panic that had begun to claw its way up his throat. His fingers tightened around the lip of the pool as he stared at them, hoping one of them might jump up and shout 'Just kidding!'.

No one did. Rita looked grim. So did Sirena and Ondina. Evie just seemed utterly disbelieving. Mimmi put her hand on his shoulder and shot him a worried look.

"My parents-" Zac began weakly, after a heavy length of silence.

"You're going to have to come up with a story about why you've left. Maybe tell them you were researching your mother and thought you might have found something, so you ran off to find answers."

Zac gaped at his Principal, shocked that she would even suggest such a thing. "Wh-what?" he spluttered. "I can't do that!"

Rita leaned forward intently, eyes hard. "The alternative is much worse, Zac! Either have them believe you ran away, or have them believe you've gone missing - kidnapped, or worse, dead!"

He looked down, blinking back tears. How could this be happening? A whole _month?_

 _At least it's reversible,_ he tried to reassure himself.

"What about school?" Evie asked, voice pleading.

"I can excuse him. We can bring him his books and work, he can study here, so he doesn't fall too far behind. I'll find a way to arrange for him to make up the work when he can come back." Rita shook her head and ran a hand through her hair. "This is just… This is a huge mess. I can't believe Veridia would do this."

"She always thinks she knows best," Ondina sniped, lips twisted into a pout. She scowled further. "She never listened to our side of the story."

Sirena leaned forward, her hand snaking forward until her finger tips rested only inches from his wet hands. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. "I'm so sorry, Zac," she whispered.

Zac shook his head numbly.

Rita cleared her throat. "I'm afraid it only gets worse. It could be one month, or it could be two, maybe even three. It depends whether Veridia will anticipate that we will try to remove her spell…" She gestured vaguely. "She may come back during the full moon and bring reinforcements. There's no telling whether we'll even have the opportunity to remove the spell."

Zac felt himself shaking. He choked back a sob, breathing heavily. Next to him, Mimmi pressed against his side, arm settling around his back in a odd kind of half-hug. Zac pressed into it, needing the reassurance.

This was a nightmare. A huge, horrible, _terrible_ nightmare. And he wanted to wake up. Now.

"But surely we can hold her off long enough to reverse the spell?" Sirena said.

Rita nodded. "That's my hope, Sirena, but I have to prepare you for the worst, Zac." She fixed him with a sympathetic gaze. Her hands fell to her knees and her shoulders slumped, just a little. "There's just no telling what could happen."

Evie licked her lips, staring around at all of their pale, grim faces. She exhaled slowly, blinking hard. "So...so what you're saying is that Zac won't be able to get his legs back for at _least_ a month?"

Rita nodded. "Yes."

Evie carefully turned to look at him. Her eyes caught his and the horror and pity in them was plain to see. Zac tore his gaze away, unable to look at her face anymore. In fact, he felt like he could barely breathe with all these mermaids in the room. All of them watching him, staring with pity and quiet solemnity.

"I...I gotta…" he stuttered, stumbling over his words. He didn't know what he needed, except that he needed to be _gone_.

So he did. He turned and ducked under the water, ignoring Mimmi's surprised shout. He shoved her tail out of the way and darted out of the entrance to Rita's pool.

His mind kept echoing with Rita's proclamation: _one month, at least._

That was one month of living in the ocean. A whole _month_.

Zac angled his body up and broke the surface of the waves with a gasp. He turned, staring back at the way he'd come, at the land that he couldn't walk on - that was forbidden to him now. He slowly set his gaze on the wide, open expanse of ocean before him. It looked so bleak, all of a sudden. So empty and vast and unknown.

He took a deep breath. "One month," he said out loud. Then he laughed, roughly and quickly.

It was going to be the worst month of his life, he was sure. And even if they did manage to get his legs back...nothing would - _could_ \- ever be the same.

* * *

 _[26.6.15] So, Zac got some not-so-good news and they have a tentative plan. Let me know what you think! Especially characterisation!_


	3. Chapter 3

_That's right, chapter 3 is here._

* * *

3.

Zac's stomach complained bitterly at him, but he didn't move from his spot across the inlet near his house. He could see his mother moving between his room and the house, carrying dirty laundry, then back again with clean clothes. Clothes he wouldn't be wearing any time soon.

She looked so happy. He couldn't call her and tell her he'd run away. He couldn't do that to her. She would think it was her fault, when all she'd done was be the best mother a guy could ask for.

Rita had laid out his options for him plainly. Either reassure them he was okay, or let them think he had been kidnapped or killed, somehow.

Zac couldn't do that - the last two were definitely not an option.

There had to be another solution. Another solution that didn't include simply swimming up to the dock right now and revealing himself. Then he'd really lose her. She'd want nothing to do with having a _fish_ for a son.

Finally, his mother went back inside, shutting the door. The laundry was hung up to dry in the warm Australian sun and Zac stared at it with a bitter smile. He could see his favourite t-shirt hung up on the line. It would get folded and put away, like the rest of his things, and even though his boat house was only feet from the water, it might as well have been a hundred for all the good it did him. He couldn't get in - all of his stuff was inaccessible to him now.

He literally had nothing but his fins.

His mother came back outside, a cup of tea in one hand and a book in the other. She settled down on the porch, and opened the book, tea at her elbow.

Zac glanced at the sun. She wouldn't be expecting him home until dinner time.

He had until dinner time to think of a solution.

Quietly, he ducked back under the water. He needed the girls. Now that he had had time to calm down, he needed to find the girls so that they could come up with a plan.

He checked the moon pool first. He normally would have checked Rita's first, as it was closer, but he had a feeling he'd find at least one person in the moon pool, and he was right. Mimmi was there, despondently picking through seashells on the ledge. She whirled around in surprise when he surfaced, and her expression went from upset to relief in moments. "Zac! I was so worried!" She launched off the edge and on top of him.

"Whoa!" Zac exclaimed, disentangling Mimmi's arms from their stranglehold around his neck and pushing them apart. "Mimmi, I'm fine!"

Mimmi breathed out slowly and settled back. She narrowed her eyes at him. "No one could find you!"

Zac waved his hand. "I was...thinking." He floated over to the edge of the pool so he could settle against one of the ledges. "Look, I can't tell my parents I've run away, do you know how much that would hurt them?"

There was a heavy silence. Mimmi blinked and glanced down, frowning. Her hand made shapes in the water as she seemed to think. Slowly, she shook her head. "What else can you say? I don't know what excuses land people would believe, but…it doesn't look like you have much of an option."

He refused to believe that. There had to be something he could say that wouldn't give his parents a heart attack.

"Can you say you're staying with a friend?" Mimmi asked hesitantly.

"For a _month?_ " Zac responded.

Mimmi shrugged. "I don't know, Zac, what do you want me to say?"

He tilted his head back, letting it thump against the rock. He wanted to thump it harder - maybe it would knock some sense into him. He closed his eyes, mind racing, but he came up blank every time. There was no excuse in the world that wouldn't fall to pieces the second his parents questioned it. A month was simply too long to be mysteriously gone.

He felt Mimmi swim closer until she settled beside him. She let out a long sigh. "I know this sucks, and I know you said, once, that you'd rather be a land person than a merman, but…"

Zac opened his eyes and tilted his head to stare at her. She was chewing her lip and staring at the water.

"I think," she continued, "that this could be good for you."

Zac straightened abruptly. "What?"

Mimmi's jaw set and her eyes met his with determination. "Zac, you've lived your whole life on land - you don't even remember what it was like living as a merman because you were too young when our mother left you with the Blakelys."

"So?" Zac had a feeling he knew where she was going with this, and he didn't like it.

Mimmi pushed off the edge of the pool and gestured broadly, out in the direction of the ocean. "So? So, you're a _merman_ , not a land-boy! You _should_ have grown up here, in the ocean, but you never got the chance!" She shook her head, eyes pitying. "You don't know what it's like, or how to live like a merman, and you should. You should have that opportunity, otherwise don't you think you're missing a part of yourself?"

Zac had been ready to jump in with an angry comment about never having asked to be a merman, thanks very much, but the more Mimmi talked, the more he listened. Part of him agreed that maybe, just maybe, she had a point. But, still - not like this. Not when he was being _forced_ into it.

She gestured again, reaching out to touch his chest, over his heart. "You were born a merman, and you were meant to grow up in the ocean. You were _meant_ to. Legs aren't natural for us, and we only get to walk on land because of magic." She sighed. "I get that you grew up as a land-boy and that all of this merman stuff is new and different, but...I really think you should look at this as an opportunity to see how your life _should_ have been."

Zac waited, but Mimmi's impassioned speech seemed to have come to an end. He...he thought he understood where she was coming from. For her, this was a good thing - a chance to bond with him and teach him all the things he should know. But, he just couldn't see it as an _opportunity_. Not when his parents would be worried sick, and not when his choice had been stolen from him. Not when it meant a month of no t.v. and no normal, land-people things.

Being a merman - he'd been okay with that as long as it just meant daily swims in the ocean and cool powers. But _living_ as a merman? Surviving out in the ocean with nothing to do and everything to lose?

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Mimmi."

Mimmi's shoulders slumped. She laughed bitterly. "If our mother had been able to raise us together, you wouldn't know any different, you know." She shook her head slowly. "You'd be completely happy never having legs at all."

"But she didn't," Zac pointed out, trying not to snap. "And I _do_ know different." At Mimmi's downcast expression, he tried to speak in a more moderate tone. "Look, I have a life that I can't just up and abandon, you know that."

She nodded quickly. "Yes, I know, I _get_ that, Zac! But, ignoring _that_ ," she waved a hand vaguely, "this _is_ an opportunity. You'll get your legs back, but there's no use worrying about it until it's the full moon again. In the meantime, I just want you to think of this as a way to see how you should have grown up," she finished pleadingly.

Zac sighed, running a hand through his wet hair. "Mimmi…"

Mimmi turned away from him and crossed her arms. "Fine, spend the whole month moping, see if I care." She swam back over to her collection of shells and began to fiddle with them, separating them into piles. There was a line of tension between her shoulder blades that was hard to miss.

Great. So now his sister was mad at him, the situation was no better than when he started, and he _still_ had no excuse for his parents. Just great.

* * *

Zac stared at the phone Rita held out to him like it might come to life and bite his hand off. It didn't help that everyone was there - _everyone._ Evie, Sirena, Ondina, Mimmi and Rita. Zac wasn't sure he could do this at all, let alone with four pairs of eyes boring into him as he did so.

He realised he was shaking his head and Rita sighed, hand dropping slightly from where it had remained outstretched for some time. Her eyes were pitying. "Zac...you have to call them."

He dug his fingers into the small towel Rita had handed to him so that he could dry his hands. "But what do I _say?_ Sorry, Mum, Dad, I'm going on a month-long extended sleep-over with no warning?"

Rita sighed again. A few feet away, Zac caught Evie's sad expression and felt even worse. He didn't need her pity as well. Any of their pity, really. Pity wasn't going to _fix_ anything.

The phone hovered near his head and he glared at it. Rita slowly bent down until she could set it in front of him. It rocked back and forth on the stone for a few moments.

Evie took a step forward and Zac envied her the ability to do so. "Zac...you have to tell them you're okay. They're going to be worried." She bit her lip. "I think it would be worse not to let them know you're okay."

He knew that. He did. It was just...hard.

Mimmi, who, despite being annoyed with him, was still sticking solidly by his side in the pool, nudged the base of his tail with her own. He glanced at her and her expression was sympathetic. "Zac, just get it over with."

He sighed. Then reached for the phone.

Punching in the number for his house phone was familiar. The ringing on the other end was also familiar. When his mother picked up, his breath caught and he jerked the phone away from his ear, shaking his head. Ondina and Sirena both crossed their arms and Evie made silent motions to place the phone back at his ear.

"Hello? Hello?" They could all hear coming from the tiny speaker on the end.

Slowly, Zac placed the phone at his ear and swallowed. "M-mum."

"Zac!" There was a pause. "Where are you? It's past dinner."

Zac licked his lips. "I'm, um…away."

Away? _Away?_ Was that the best he could do?

His mum's voice was also suspicious. "Away?" she repeated skeptically. "Away where? Are you out for the evening?"

"Yeah," Zac blurted out. "Um, yeah, I've got a...project. And I'm staying at...Cam's house, tonight. To finish it."

Evie narrowed her eyes at him and Ondina covered her eyes with a sigh. Rita pursed her lips at him and shook her head. Zac set his jaw.

 _What?_ he mouthed. He was buying time. Buying time to think of a better excuse. That was all.

"Okay. You're eating dinner there? Make sure you two _actually_ study," she added dryly. "Tell his mum and dad hello for me, will you?"

"Yeah, sure thing, Mum."

"Okay. Next time, _call me_. I'll see you tomorrow."

Zac nodded, eyes closing at the lie. "Yeah, um, see you."

"Bye, sweetheart."

"Bye," he practically whispered. Then he hung up the phone and placed it back on the rock to an utterly silent grotto. He daren't raise his head to see everyone's disappointed expressions.

Ondina cleared her throat, "Well. _That_ went well. Good job at not telling her you're not coming back."

"Zac," Evie added, voice laden with resignation. "You know you can't do that forever."

Rita stepped forward silently and bent down for the phone. Zac's eyes met hers as she rose again. She sighed, smiling sadly. "Evie's right, Zac. It worked, for now, but eventually she's going to ask where you are."

Zac nodded. "I know, but… Maybe we can come up with a solution. I just need to buy some time."

Rita hesitated, eyes flickering from him to Mimmi. "Then I hope you know what you're doing."

He turned when Mimmi put a hand on his arm. She floated next to him silently, expression shuttered.

Evie spoke again, tearing his attention away from his sister. "I'll bring you your school work tomorrow. You can work on it in here, I guess. I'll help you study," she added, smiling.

He smiled back, weakly. "Thanks, Evie."

She nodded, then came forward, crouched, grabbed his hand with another smile, and squeezed it softly. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

Their hands parted when she stood again, and Zac hated that he couldn't just climb out after her. He swallowed. "Bye…"

Evie shot him a parting smile over her shoulder. Zac raised a hand, then let it fall back to the ledge.

After that, Sirena and Ondina decided to call it a day, and it was only after all four of them were crowding Rita's pool that Mimmi seemed to realise they might have a problem, because she went, "Oh!" and her eyes widened and she looked suddenly hesitant.

Rita, who was just about to leave, paused and turned back around.

"What?" Ondina demanded, as Mimmi bit her lip and glanced between Zac, Ondina and Sirena.

"I just realised that...that," she paused and glanced again at Zac. He frowned, wondering what the big deal was.

"What is it, Mimmi?" Rita asked.

Mimmi shrugged one shoulder awkwardly. She addressed both Ondina and Sirena. "Do you girls mind...if Zac stays with us?"

"What?" Ondina exclaimed. She shot Zac a _look_.

Zac, meanwhile, had suddenly come to the same conclusion as Mimmi. The girls currently occupied the moon pool. Three mermaids was crowded enough, but Zac as well? Not to mention, he wasn't sure how comfortable he felt sleeping with three mermaids right next to him. They probably felt the same way.

"You want to share the moon pool with Zac?" Sirena glanced down, frowning. "That's...I mean, it'll be a bit of a tight fit, and…"

"Why doesn't Zac sleep here?" Rita quickly interjected, right as Ondina opened her mouth with what was likely a protest. "As long as you're comfortable with that, Zac?" she added.

Zac shrugged. Sleeping in mer-form anywhere was not exactly something he was comfortable with.

"But…" Mimmi hesitated. She glanced between Ondina and Sirena, and Zac. "I promised I'd stick with him." She turned to Zac, "I guess I can stay here, with you?"

Zac shrugged again. He honestly wasn't sure whether he'd prefer to have someone there, or if he could deal with sleeping by himself. In a pool. At night. By himself. He opened his mouth, shut it, and frowned.

"He's a big boy, he'll be fine," Ondina dismissed with a wave of her hand.

Mimmi whirled on her, lips pinched. "But he's always stayed on land - this is new and different for him. I know I wouldn't be comfortable staying on land by myself. But I've always had you there, Ondina."

Ondina contemplated this, squinting at Zac and exchanging looks with Sirena.

"I think someone should stay with Zac," Sirena finally offered. "Whether he stays with us, or here...we could always try both?"

Mimmi started nodding. "Right, maybe just for tonight we should all stick together." She gave Zac an expectant look.

Zac finally managed a word in edgeways. "I...maybe I _should_ stay here at Rita's."

"No," Ondina said, abruptly. "Mimmi's right. Just for tonight, we should stick together." She paused and pointed a finger at Zac. "But don't get any ideas. You can stay on one side, we'll be on the other." She spread her hands apart, showing him by exactly how much he was going to stay on 'his' side.

He sighed and nodded wearily. "Fine, whatever." It wasn't worth arguing about. He'd just have to think of it like a camping trip. With girls. And no tents. That was...normal, right?

Rita glanced between them all in amusement. Her lips quirked. "Well then, you seem to have worked it out. I'll see you tomorrow, Zac." She nodded to him. "Girls." With that she was gone.

That left Zac, his sister, and Sirena and Ondina. He looked around, feeling the slightly awkward atmosphere and wondering how they were going to pull this off without stepping on each other's toes... _fins_. He was regretting it already. But he didn't have much choice, did he?

* * *

 _[10.08.15] So, here we go, the plot progresses. Zac has time to contemplate things and realises this is going to be a lot harder than he thought. Mimmi is naturally trying to make the best of the situation. Zac is not cooperating._

 _Let me know what you think!_


	4. Chapter 4

4.

Zac woke up the next morning momentarily panicked. For a second, he couldn't remember where he was or how he got there, but then the sun shining through the mouth of the volcano above the moon pool registered as familiar and he remembered that he had spent the night there - in mer-form.

Groaning, he stretched and turned his head. Mimmi had gone to sleep on his right and Ondina and Sirena had taken the opposite side of the pool so that their tails all pointed towards the middle of the pool. Sirena had been right - it was a snug fit - but they had managed to spread themselves out.

It had been just as strange the second time as it was the first, to simply lay back and drift off on top of the water. And yet, he thought, as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he felt strangely invigorated. He had no idea what the time was, but seeing as Mimmi was still asleep, mouth slightly open as she floated, he reckoned it couldn't be too late. Her eyelids fluttered in her sleep and she let out a little sigh. Zac smirked.

He reached over and poked her shoulder. She snorted and jerked awake, blinking blearily. She twisted until she was more upright and Zac also sunk down until they were both facing one another. Mimmi yawned and stretched. "Morning, Zac." She glanced over to the other side of the pool. Both Sirena and Ondina were gone. "Huh. How late is it?"

Zac shrugged. "Dunno. I just woke up."

Something rumbled and Mimmi squeaked, putting a hand to her stomach. She grinned ruefully. "Breakfast time, I think."

It was strange, Zac pondered, waking up this way. There was no dragging himself out of bed, or into clothes. There was no morning ritual to observe - no brushing his teeth or washing his face or body. All he did was just...wake up, ready to go.

Mimmi did one last stretch and slipped further towards the exit to the moon pool. "Come on, let's go catch some breakfast."

And that was something else - the whole 'catch your food' thing. It was weird. Mermaids didn't have refrigerators though, so how else were they supposed to do it?

He followed Mimmi out of the pool, content to observe as she collected a woven mesh bag from between two rocks and set off with a strong beat of her tail. He could admit he was hungry, but it just seemed so odd to just wake up and swim off to grab breakfast out in the middle of the ocean. This was how animals lived - from meal to meal, day to day. Zac wasn't so sure he could find any purpose in that. He didn't feel comfortable just...existing.

Mimmi turned her head, catching his eye. Her eyebrows rose, questioning, and he shook his head. She frowned at him, but used her free hand to beckon him on, twisting around to head towards a crop of particularly bright coral. There, she scouted several crustaceans and, with some clever hand signals that took Zac only a few tries to interpret, indicated that he should collect some things as well.

He stared at the reef and the brightly coloured fish, and felt like this was all wrong. He'd been fishing before. He'd even gone diving for clams and other shellfish - he knew how to catch seafood - but he knew how to catch it the _human_ way.

Mimmi swam up to him and shoved the mesh bag into his hands with a roll of her eyes. _Stay there,_ she indicated. Zac turned to inspect the bag as she darted off after something she'd spotted. There were mussels, clams, some shrimp, and a couple of limp fish. He poked at them, but they seemed firmly dead.

A hand on his tail made him startle. He jerked it out of reach and whipped around to spot Ondina smirking at him, one eyebrow raised. She pointed to the bag and clicked her tongue, but if it was meant to mean something, Zac had no idea. Ondina rolled her eyes and shook her head. _Mimmi,_ she mouthed, then shrugged, hand making a small circling motion, palm up, as if to say, _where?_

Zac pointed in the direction Mimmi had swum off. Ondina nodded and turned to head in the same direction. She didn't get very far. As Zac watched, Mimmi swam back into sight past some rocks, a bunch of slick seaweed in one hand. She grinned when she spotted Ondina, and waved the seaweed. When they got close enough, Zac heard Ondina click and squeak - it sounded like noises a dolphin would make.

He blinked. Of course. They couldn't speak _English_ underwater, it would be too distorted...but they could speak _Dolphin._ He remembered Mimmi's attempts to teach him Humpback and grimaced. It seemed impossible to learn. It was just a bunch of moaning or squeaking - how was he supposed to know which particular moan or squeak meant what?

Mimmi and Ondina swam past them, Mimmi's hand reaching out to tug his fins playfully as she passed. She shot him a grin over her shoulder and jerked her chin. He sighed, bubbles escaping his mouth, but followed.

All three of them made it back to the moon pool and once they had surfaced, Ondina turned to Mimmi and said, "I told Erik what happened. I was worried Veridia might try to do something to him, as well. He's going to stay away from Mako, just in case."

Zac handed over the bag when Mimmi gestured for it, but his eyes were mostly on Ondina. "But I'm the only one who can access the chamber, aren't I?"

Ondina shrugged. "Better safe than sorry."

Mimmi proffered him some seaweed which she had wrapped around a prawn in a sort of make-shift sushi roll. He stared at it in surprise. "Thanks."

She smiled, biting into her own. Then she turned back to Ondina. "Did you eat?"

Ondina nodded. "I'm good." She sighed, hands cupping the water then releasing it. Her golden tail flicked back and forth. "This is such a...a _mess_."

"Have you seen Cam?" Zac asked, as he fiddled with his breakfast. When Mimmi shot his hands a look, he bit into it - pleasantly surprised by the interesting burst of flavour - and chewed.

Ondina tilted her head thoughtfully. "He was at the café when I left, why?"

"I need to talk to him." Zac quickly stuffed the rest of the wrap in his mouth, chewing quickly. When Ondina merely raised an eyebrow, he explained, "If my mum asks him about last night, he'll give it away if he doesn't know. Can you ask him to come down to the docks so I can speak to him?" He sucked a bit of shrimp juice off his finger. He found another wrap hovering in his field of vision as Mimmi held it out, lips quirked with amusement.

Ondina sighed. "Ugh. Fine. But you'll want to hurry. It's nearly time for land school."

Zac hastily stuffed his second shrimp-seaweed wrap into his mouth, nodding quickly. "'kay, le's go," he said through a mouthful.

"Zac-" Mimmi began, gesturing to the rest of their breakfast.

Zac tried to swallow, failed, and chewed a bit more slowly. He shook his head, jerking his chin in the direction of the exit. Finally, he finished most of his mouthful. "Be back soon."

After a hasty good-bye, Zac and Ondina left the pool. Ondina sped off to meet up with Cam and direct him towards a secluded part of the docks. Zac headed straight for the docks and found somewhere where he could observe without being obvious. He felt like some kind of criminal, sneaking around in the ocean, ready to duck under the minute someone glanced his way.

He'd always had that fear of discovery before, but it had been tempered by the knowledge that he could simply pull himself out of the water and disappear into the crowd. It had been almost liberating, knowing that he could escape to land or water - that he'd always have a place in either world. Now, he was trapped. The whole ocean was his cage.

He floated under the hull of a boat anchored further out to sea and stared down through the water at his bright blue fish-tail. Part of him wanted to hate it, for trapping him, but the rest of him couldn't imagine giving it up. If Veridia had taken his tail instead, somehow, he knew he would have been equally devastated.

Mimmi's argument from the previous afternoon still resonated with him. He understood where she was coming from - he really did. He was a merman - he belonged in the ocean. That was a fact. What she didn't understand was that he'd grown up on land - he had a life - a family, friends, hobbies, a reason to get up in the morning. Unlike the rest of the mermaids, he couldn't just...give it all up to go frolic with the dolphins forever. He had obligations and ties on land that were strong, nigh unbreakable. His legs were just as much an intrinsic part of him as his tail, and to be deprived of them would be just as horrific as being denied the ocean. He wasn't either-or, he was part of _both_ worlds.

Being trapped in one just didn't sit right, but he couldn't hate his tail, not completely. He could certainly hate Veridia though, for denying him half of himself.

He glanced up and spotted Cam hurrying down the length of the docks, head whipping around as if on a swivel, his expression creased with worry. Zac quickly ducked under the water and swam up to one of the end docks, the one furthest from anyone working on their boats in the early morning sunshine. He surfaced cautiously, eyes just skimming the top of the water as he glanced around. So far so good. He stuck his head up. "Cam!" he hissed, as loudly as he dared.

Cam, standing at the end of the docks and still twisting his head this way and that in search of Zac, jerked his eyes down to the water. A funny expression came over his face as he hurried over, dropping to his knees by the edge. "Zac? What are you _doing?_ "

Zac grimaced. "Cam, I'm stuck."

Cam's brow furrowed. "What? Look, are you okay? Evie said you were hurt during the full moon - that Veridia chick came and zapped you good."

Zac reached out and gripped the edge of the dock, hauling himself up so that he and Cam were at a closer eye level. "Listen, Veridia did more than zap me, okay? She took away my legs."

Cam reared back, rocking so far back he ended up on his butt. His mouth popped open, stunned. "Wh-what?" he spluttered. He scrambled forward, peering over the edge of the wood into the water at Zac's tail. "Are you serious? She _took_ your legs? How can she do that?"

Zac's shoulders hunched. He slumped further into the water, chin coming down. He glared at Cam's legs - his perfectly functional, strong, _human_ legs. "Well, I wasn't _born_ with them, was I?" he snapped. "I got them because of a magic spell and apparently a magic spell can take them away!" His chest heaved and he pushed back off the dock, unable to keep his grip. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to calm down as Cam continued to gape at him.

"That's insane," muttered Cam.

Zac passed a hand over his eyes. "I know," he replied bitterly. "Look, I'm stuck like this until the next full moon. The girls' moon rings aren't strong enough to change me back without the power of the full moon in the moon pool…"

"That's a month away!" Cam shouted, eyes wide. "No way! They'll have the police out searching for you in full force by then, Zac!"

Zac dashed a hand against the water in frustration. "I _know_ , Cam! Listen, I told my mum I was at yours last night, but I'm running out of excuses. Just...play along for now, please?"

Cam shook his head slowly, disbelief etched across his face. "Yeah, sure, mate, whatever you need." He paused. "What about afterwards? What are you gonna tell them when you don't come back after two days? A week?"

Zac clenched his jaw, lips tightening. He shrugged. "I don't know."

Stumbling to his feet, Cam laughed, hollowly, and brushed himself off. He closed his eyes for a second, a frown twisting his mouth. "You're in it deep, now, Zac."

Zac glared.

Cam shrugged helplessly. "I'll try to think of something, but…" The way he stared down at Zac reeked of pity. Zac glanced away for a moment, shoulders tightening all the way down to his tail ridge.

"Right. I'd better go. Class starts soon." Cam's eyes flicked to his watch, then widened. "Real soon." He spun on his heel, backpack clunking against his side as it swung wildly over his shoulder. He froze, twisting to throw Zac a gimlet eye. "Does Evie know?"

"Yeah," Zac nodded, wearily. "They all do. I think Ondina told Erik to stay out of the ocean, in case Veridia comes back, too."

Cam chewed his lip. His brow furrowed. "And you? She's not gonna come after you again, is she?"

Zac sent him a weak smile. "I've got the girls...I'll be fine."

Except he wouldn't be fine. Because he was stuck in the ocean. He couldn't go to school, he couldn't go home, and he couldn't go to the café. His parents were going to be worried sick. He had nothing to do. All he had were endless hours, an open ocean, and a persistent sister.

It shouldn't have seemed so terrible, but it was.

He watched Cam hurry away, lifting a hand to wave in return, but dropping it the instant Cam's back was out of sight. Then, he was forced to duck back under the water because two land people turned a corner on the docks and started to head his way.

This was his life for the next month. Ducking underwater to avoid being spotted by land-people who wouldn't hesitate to capture him for experiments or put him on display at the marine park. He blinked slowly, wondering suddenly when it had become so _us versus them_. Right now, more than ever, land people were so very much a _them_.

He swallowed, nose exhaling bubbles as he stared at the barnacle encrusted underside of the floating docks. Thinking about this was just going to depress him. Besides, he still needed to think of a solution to his disappearance.

 _What if I told them?_

He squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head. That way lay insanity. No way. He couldn't tell his parents they had adopted a merman. They'd freak. They'd never look at him the same way again.

Besides, it wasn't just about him. There was Mimmi and the other girls to consider. This secret was bigger than just him - it put everyone in danger.

He turned tail and headed back for the moon pool. It wasn't like he had anything better to do.

* * *

Mimmi was still there when he arrived. She was picking at the left-over seaweed with her fingers, expression lax and bored. There was absolutely none of her usual energy in her movements, even when she turned to Zac as he resurfaced. She merely sent him a tight smile and asked him how his talk went.

"Fine," Zac replied, shortly.

"Cam have any solutions?"

Zac shook his head mutely. Mimmi's mouth quirked sadly, in clear commiseration. She reached down to the ledge beside her and plucked up a handful of clams. "Here, I saved you some breakfast."

He accepted them with a weak smile. He felt bad now, that he was making her so miserable when all she was trying to do was help. Not only had she stuck by him, but she was going out of her way to make sure he had food, a place to sleep…

Zac set down the clams with a sigh. He owed her an apology. "Mimmi? I'm sorry I've been so unpleasant."

Mimmi twisted her head, blinking at him in surprise. She pushed off the ledge, drawing close enough to put a hand on his arm. Her lips pursed, eyes crinkling. "No, Zac, _I'm_ sorry. You're right to feel upset and angry, and I…" She sighed, hand dropping. She bit her lip. "I guess I wasn't being fair to you. You _did_ grow up on land, regardless of where you belong, so this can't be easy for you."

He smiled in mild relief. "No, it's not," he agreed. "Thanks," he added after a moment. Mimmi nodded and floated back again, coming to rest against the side of the pool. Then she chewed her lip for a long moment and Zac paused in the process of picking out a clam to take measure of her posture. "What?" he asked.

Mimmi glanced at the clams, avoiding his eyes. "I get that you're upset, but...will you still let me teach you?" She stared down at the water, gaze flickering up briefly to meet his.

Zac's hands dropped to his sides. "Teach me?" he repeated.

"Yes. Look, there's not much we can do about the situation, is there? So we should take the...time for me to teach you things. And then, of course, take time for your land school studies and things," she added hastily. Pausing, she searched his expression, waiting.

Zac swallowed. She was right. He knew she was right. There _was_ nothing he could do except wait, and what else was he going to spend his time doing? Swimming? All day every day? Even swimming lost its charm after a while. Slowly, he nodded. Mimmi's expression brightened. "Really?"

"Yeah," Zac sighed, "okay."

* * *

 _[03.09.15] So, here we have chapter 4. Zac is still deliberating what to do, but at least he's finally accepted he's got to make the best of the situation..._

 _Anyway, I know it's a bit slow going, but hopefully enjoyable nonetheless! Cheers, all._


	5. Chapter 5

5.

Zac's first lesson was weaving seaweed bags for collecting items. Mimmi also showed him the different uses of all the various types of flora and fauna they came across under water. He already had a pretty good idea of what was edible and what wasn't, but this was like Underwater Survival Training 101.

Mimmi was a good teacher. Zac figured he'd learned a lot more than he should have, given his heart wasn't in it and he was mostly distracted, thinking about what he was going to tell his parents.

As the sun crept towards midday, it occurred to him that this was the longest he'd ever spent with a tail. The realisation bowled him over. He didn't hear a word Mimmi said as she tried to explain all of the things she'd pointed out on the reef just below them. He only paid attention again when she gripped his wrist and yanked him back underwater in order to show him physically.

The only reason he actually learned anything was because she seemed keen on making him do everything himself, rather than just listen to her lecture. Because he was terrible at understanding Dolphin or any dialect of Whale, she used a lot of exaggerated, but well-practiced hand gestures to indicate what he was meant to do and how he was meant to do it.

He did most of the things she showed him in a daze.

Here he was, out in the ocean, with zero responsibility, zero accountability… It was freeing and terrifying at the same time. At least until he remembered that he still didn't have an excuse for his soon-to-be-prolonged absence.

The sun reached its apex and began its descent. Zac had become rather good at telling which hour of the day it was, based on the sun's position in the sky. He let Mimmi drag him around until around what he guessed might be two o'clock, and then he begged off any more lessons.

He would head back for the coast, find Cam or Evie, and figure out a game plan. They should be getting out of school soon. Evie would be able to tell him what he'd missed, and Cam might have some ideas for what to say to his parents.

Mimmi accompanied him back. Zac thought nothing of it until she pulled herself from the water near the docks and brushed herself off. He stared at her legs, resentment bubbling up inside, no matter how ridiculous it was. Mimmi wasn't remotely to blame for his predicament. She'd done nothing but help him.

She leaned over the edge of the dock. "Where do you want to meet?"

Zac floated silently for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts. He made sure his voice was pleasant when he spoke, nothing in his tone betraying his anger or jealousy. "Have them meet me at Rita's. We can talk, without worrying anyone will see us."

Mimmi frowned, putting her hands on her hips. "You want to let a land boy into Rita's grotto?"

Zac sighed, closing his eyes in consternation. "Well, where do you suggest then?"

Mimmi tilted her head thoughtfully. "Why not meet on Mako? You can come up to the beach and Cam can come down. Evie can swim there."

Zac thought about how ridiculous it would be to meet while lying in the surf, unable to really move, just lying there, totally useless, craning his neck to watch his friends stand over him. He shook his head.

"Okay, Cam can take his boat out and we'll just meet somewhere off the coast."

So Zac would be in the water, as would Evie and Mimmi...and Cam would be in the boat with their school things? How would Zac see anything? He groaned, scrubbing a hand over his face. If only they could just meet at the docks, without worrying that anyone walking past could see them.

An idea occurred to him and he smiled. Mimmi tilted her head curiously. "What?"

"Tell Cam to bring Evie and meet at the secret fishing spot."

"The what?"

Zac shook his head. "He'll know what I mean."

Shrugging, Mimmi turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Zac in the water. Alone. Unable to do anything but wait.

He ducked back under, not eager to be spotted by a passerby. He twisted in the current slowly, fins undulating gently as he turned towards his and Cam's old secret fishing spot. It was where they'd fished, before they'd earned their boat licenses; a sort of small cove hidden by rocks, up the north end of the beach. It was a bit of a climb, and far from the Café.

After they'd gotten their boating licenses, they'd been able to rent boats out to prime fishing spots and rarely returned to the little cove. Zac hoped no one else had decided it would make a great private fishing spot since.

He followed the line of the coast northwards, swimming slowly to kill time. Fish darted past and occasionally a boat made waves overhead or a buoy cast a shadow over him. It was quiet and peaceful, the world just a wide expanse of blue and golden-white sand.

It was also lonely.

On land, unless he was alone in his room, he was always surrounded by people. Even when he was just walking along, there were birds and other animals, and always the chance of running into someone, or just passing someone on the path. There was always some sign of civilisation.

But out here? In the ocean? It was all wilderness. It was wide and vast and open. Without Mimmi swimming next to him, it felt like he was completely alone - that he could swim for hours and never see another soul.

Zac shook his pessimistic thoughts from his head as he figured he'd swum far enough. Cautiously, he surfaced, poking his head above the waves for a quick glimpse towards the shore.

He was off, by a little. He'd left behind the swim-friendly beaches, so there was no worry of running into a land-person (not that anyone would dare swim out so far, anyway), but he'd over-shot the cove. The rocky outcropping was behind him and until he swam closer, he wouldn't be able to tell if anyone were there.

He ducked back under and headed inland. When ocean floor started to creep up, he popped his head out again. The tiny, tiny cove - barely more than a few metres' strip of sand and some craggy rocks - mostly rocks - was unoccupied, so Zac found a big rock with enough of a flat surface to rest on and dragged himself half out of the water.

He felt like Ariel in _The Little Mermaid_ , when she pulled herself up on the rock. Which was probably not the best comparison in the world. Because he was most certainly not a mermaid, nor was he going to comb his hair, sing, or otherwise engage in girly mermaid activities.

His tail was still half submerged, blue, iridescent scales glittering in the sun. He glanced down at his fins in consternation. If he pulled it completely out of the water, it wouldn't make any difference - it wouldn't change. He slumped back against the rock, tilting his head back and closing his eyes.

That was how Cam and Evie found him twenty minutes later.

"Heeey, Ariel, lookin' good!"

Zac jerked out of his light doze, eyes snapping open against the bright glare of the sun. He twisted his head and shaded his eyes, finally able to see Cam, balancing with his feet between two rocks, smirking down at him. Evie crested the ledge just behind him, huffing a little as she pulled herself up and over, turning around to descend the other side of the outcropping.

"Shut up," Zac called, splashing his tail. Unfortunately, Cam was well out of reach of any spray.

Cam hoped down onto the small sliver of sand and crossed over to Zac's rock. He climbed up the other side and perched himself out of reach of the water. His backpack slid off his shoulder and he dumped it into a convenient crevice.

"How on earth did you ever manage to get fishing rods down here?" Evie complained as she finally made it to the sand. Deftly avoiding the spray of the surf, she climbed up beside Cam, giving Zac a smile, but staying out of range of the sea spray. She tucked her hair behind her ears and pulled her bag around to her lap. "I got your work. Principal Santos pardoned your absence and all the teachers got correspondence to give your work to me," she explained.

Cam was still grinning. He glanced between Zac and Evie. "Oh come on, no mermaid jokes? Really? He's sitting on a rock. All he needs is a comb and pretty singing voice and-"

Zac may not have been able to reach Cam with his tail, but he _could_ use his powers. He twisted his hand and directed a stream of water straight at Cam's face. His friend cut off with a yelp, spluttering as he wiped sea water from his eyes. "Okay, okay!"

Evie rolled her eyes. "Anyway, as I was saying, I've got your work. I don't know if you want to go over it now." She glanced sceptically around at the rocks - there wasn't really anywhere they could spread the work out - no flat surfaces. Zac hadn't quite thought this plan out as well as he'd hoped.

"What about what you're gonna tell your parents, mate?"

Zac grimaced. Evie froze in pulling out a folder of papers. Cam crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "So that's a big, fat 'i have no idea' then."

Zac thumped his fins against the rock. "I _don't_!"

Evie shuffled to the side, trying to get more comfortable on the rock. She caught his eye. "Zac, you have to tell them."

His eyes widened. "What? No way, Evie, they'd freak!"

She huffed. "No, I mean, you have to tell them you're not coming home."

Cam nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, man, you can only say you're staying at mine for so long before it falls apart."

The sea breeze caught the ocean spray and sent it up over Zac's tail. He shifted in place and stared down at his scales, like they held all the answers in the universe. Cam was right, damn him. Zac knew he was right, but thinking about how little time he had before it all blew up in his face was not something he wanted to deal with.

Evie reached out, but she was just a little too far back to touch Zac. Her hand dropped back before a spray of water could make it wet. She sighed. "I think Rita had it right the first time, Zac. You've only really got two options."

Cam glanced between them. "What're those?"

Zac grimaced, but it was Evie who laid them out, matter-of-factly. "Either he does nothing - just vanishes. They think he's run away, kidnapped, dead, drowned… Honestly, it's the worst option, I mean, they'll send out the police in force."

Cam tapped a finger against his arm, eyebrows scrunched. "Not to mention they'll wonder why your friends are picking up your homework and telling lies about where you are."

"So, basically, not an option," Evie concluded with a pointed look at Zac. He nodded slowly. She continued, "The second option is, he calls them and tells them straight up he's leaving. Not to look for him, that he's fine, etc."

Cam's mouth opened and shut. He let out a few breathy chuckles. "'Hi, Mum, Dad, I'm just running away for a month, don't worry, it's not you, it's me?' Like that?" He gestured widely back towards the beaches and the direction of the café.

"Exactly!" Zac snapped. "I can't do that!" His fingers clenched around a small outcropping of rock, knuckles whitening, and the sharp edges of the rock cut into his palms. He let go and glanced down at the bright red lines on his skin.

Evie made a noise in the back of her throat that had Zac looking up again. Her eyes flickered away from his hand to his face. Her lips twisted in a frown. "Zac," she said firmly, " _neither_ of those options are good, but one is better than the other. We're working with what we have - what else can you do?"

Zac's shoulders slumped. "Nothing," he muttered, staring down at his tail again. His stupid, stupid tail. If he didn't _have_ a tail, then…

He cut that thought off before it could take root, grimacing at his over-wrought brain. He couldn't think like that. He was what he was - he'd accepted that, even appreciated it. He wouldn't be Zac Blakely if he weren't a merman. He wouldn't be _him_ if he didn't have a tail.

He just wished he didn't have to deal with all the drama that came with it.

"So I guess we just need a good story - you know, a reason why you're leaving for a month."

Zac laughed, shaking his head ruefully. "No story in the world is a good reason to leave for a month!" He twisted a look over his shoulder, at the sparkling wide expanse of the ocean. It was ironic that he wouldn't actually be leaving at all - he'd be right here, under the sea.

For the next half an hour, they tried to come up with plausible excuses, but each time Zac found a way to poke a hole in them. Pretend he's doing a study-abroad to the US last minute and simply _had_ to leave? Where's the paperwork? Why would he just up and go without even seeing his parents? They'd question it to kingdom come.

Tell them he'd been researching his _real_ mother and found a lead and raced off to check it out? Why wouldn't he speak to them about it? Unless he was unhappy and discontent - they'd be heartbroken. He couldn't do that to them. Not unless it was a last resort.

Tell them he'd just run away? Pretend he's going through some issues with the adoption and needed some space? Without having packed even a single article of clothing?

Cam and Evie both pointed out that they could sneak into his room and pack him a bag to make it look like he'd simply run off. Making it believable wouldn't be an issue. The issue was whether Zac could deal with the fallout.

The more they discussed it, the more it seemed like he wasn't going to be able to come up with a good excuse why he had to leave that wouldn't upset his parents. There _would_ be heartbreak - the only question was how much and how he was going to deal with it after the next full moon.

"If Veridia doesn't try to stop us," Evie pointed out quietly when he bemoaned this fact.

Zac's jaw clenched. Veridia better not try to stop them. He'd do whatever it took to get his legs back. He'd _beg_ her if that's what it took.

He wondered if he could possibly appeal to her sense of compassion or reason. He tried to consider the situation from her perspective. She was afraid of his access to the Chamber. He was afraid of being trapped in the ocean forever.

Cam made a thoughtful noise under his breath and cleared his throat. "Well, maybe if we point out how many ties you have to land and how suspicious it is for you to simply...disappear?" He gestured to Zac. "He's got records on land - people will always be looking for him. What if they start, I dunno, searching the coast for his body or something? She's gotta worry about being found out, right? Wouldn't that be worse than letting Zac have his legs back?"

Zac felt a spark of hope in his chest. He tried to imagine Veridia's reaction to Cam's argument. Maybe if he promised he'd never try to access the Chamber again? Would she believe him? How could he prove himself to her?

If it meant getting his legs back, he thought he'd be happy never to step foot in the Chamber again. Even if it meant never knowing what it could do. Whatever it was had Veridia so scared she was willing to risk Zac's mysterious disappearance from his land life. She was willing to risk having a merman permanently in the waters of Mako.

He wished he knew what the Chamber did. If they only _knew_ they wouldn't have to be scared of it anymore.

"I don't know," Evie sighed, unknowingly voicing Zac's own thoughts aloud, "the mermaids seem really scared of that Chamber. If she would rather have Zac always in the water rather than away from them on land…" She trailed off, thought unfinished, but clear enough. Zac and Cam glanced at each other.

Cam broke eye contact first, scoffing, "It's dumb. They should trust Zac to do the right thing, and let him find out what the Chamber does. If it's something bad, he can just shut it down...problem solved!"

"They don't want to risk it," Evie pointed out. "I kind of get that, but at the same time…" She paused, eyes darting to Zac's tail.

Zac picked at the rock with his nails, scowling. "Can we...work on school stuff now?" He was done talking about this. They were going in circles now, just highlighting his misery.

Evie stood, brushing off her shorts and crouching to grab her bag and the papers. "Not here. There's no where to spread out. I'll meet you at Rita's." She hesitated, glancing at Cam.

Cam peered between the two of them, then rolled his eyes and stood. He dusted off his own shorts. "Yeah, okay, I get it. I wouldn't want to do school work any more than I have to anyway, so the joke's on you anyway," he added, directing his last comment towards Evie. Smirking at Zac, he gave a jaunty wave and turned to climb back over the rocky outcropping.

A sudden panic seized him. "Wait!" Zac called.

Cam paused. He tried to turn with one foot wedged between two rocks and the other balanced on a point, but it was too precarious. He managed to catch Zac's eye over his shoulder. "What?"

Zac licked his lips. "Don't...Give me one more day?" At Cam's raised eyebrows, he explained, "To tell my parents. Say I'm at yours...just one more day."

Cam sighed. "I'll try, okay?"

Hesitantly, Zac nodded. "Yeah, alright." It was the best he could hope for. His parents might or might not believe Cam. He prayed they did. He couldn't deal with telling them his lie tonight. He wasn't ready.

"Thanks," he added, to Cam's retreating back. Cam just waved his hand over his shoulder and disappeared over the edge of the rock - towards land, where Zac could no longer follow.

Evie turned to face him, papers all stowed away and bag over one shoulder. The look she sent Zac as she left was full of worry. Zac schooled his face, trying to pretend he hadn't noticed.

"I'll see you in a bit," she told him, as she climbed back towards the shore.

Zac watched her go, feeling even more useless. Finally, it was just him, sitting on a rock, just like the mermaid tales of old. He felt ridiculous now that there was no one to speak to. Not to mention his butt was getting sore - or was it still his butt? Was it just considered all his tail?

He slid off the rock, back into the water. The rock was slippery enough that it didn't catch much on his scales, but it still scraped them the wrong way and that felt awfully uncomfortable. He'd never forced his scales to drag the wrong way before - it pulled at the edges, making them sting and ache.

He kicked away from the rock with a single, powerful flip of his fins and twisted in the water to glance down at the side of his tail where the scales had scraped the most. They weren't _bleeding_ or anything, which was good, but they still stung a little, like his knees would if he'd fallen and scraped them on the ground a bit. Not hard enough to break skin, but still enough to sting. It felt just like that.

It used to be that when he had touched his scales, or someone or something else had touched his scales, he would be surprised to feel something. Scales just didn't seem like they would _feel_. But they _did_. They weren't as sensitive as his skin, but they still _felt._

He brushed a hand over the patch of stinging scales on his tail. He was being maudlin again. Now was not the time to feel sorry for himself. He had schoolwork to catch up on, and excuses to invent.

* * *

 _[11.28.2015] - I'm alive! And still writing. Slowly. I just got a new job, and the commute is hell. If you add the commute to my work day, I'm working like, 12 hours days, it's ridiculous. But I'm still here, occasionally trying to write. Chapters will just be slow._

 _Anyway, here we are: Zac is running out of excuses, reality is starting to set in, and bad references to Disney are made. Cheers!_


	6. Chapter 6

6.

Zac's second night as a full-time merman was spent in Rita's grotto pool. Mimmi had insisted on staying with him, so when he woke up it was to her gentle, open-mouthed snores. It wasn't as pleasant as staying in the moon pool; the moon pool was open, the light of the sun like a halo from the mouth of the volcano above. Rita's grotto was completely enclosed underground—there was no morning sunlight to shine down on them to herald the day.

He rolled over, feeling at just as much of a loss today as he had the day before. It was still strange not to have to get up, get dressed, brush his teeth, comb his hair, and all those other morning ablutions that basic human hygiene demanded.

In some ways, merpeople lived a much simpler life, he decided. And in others...not so much, he thought, when he realised breakfast would not be a simple matter of walking to the kitchen and opening the fridge for a plate of morning prawns.

He glanced at Mimmi, still snuffling away in her sleep, completely dead to the world, one arm flung over her body and the other trailing in the water, held up by the natural saline buoyancy. She had done so much for him these past few days that he decided to let her sleep in...and try to find breakfast himself.

The day-lit ocean made him blink when he emerged from the tunnel. At least he hadn't woken up impossibly early, although it was hard to tell exactly what time it was.

He swam to the reef where they had stashed the mesh bags Mimmi had helped him weave the day before. Tying one of each around both his wrists, he set off, eyes open for anything edible.

It was actually kind of fun—having to catch your own breakfast. It was just like camping. You ate off the land and the sea—or in this case, the coral and the sea.

He was feeling particularly accomplished when, after about twenty minutes of slow swimming across the reef, he headed back to Rita's with _both_ mesh bags brimming with tasty morsels. Mimmi would no doubt get the shock of her life when he showed up with breakfast already sorted.

Just went to show he clearly knew more about this mer-style living than she gave him credit for. Besides, he'd always been a fast learner.

A few early morning seafarers passed by overhead and Zac stopped swimming to glance up at the shadows the boat hulls made against the surface. It was strange to think of those people up there, walking around on their boats, with nary an idea that directly below them a merman swam along.

He shook his head and darted in the direction of Rita's grotto. Barely slowing at the entrance, he nearly swam head-first into Mimmi. His tail caught and dragged the water as his arms quickly back-peddled. Bubbles escaped Mimmi's mouth in surprise as she rolled sharply out of the way.

After they had straightened themselves out, Mimmi sent him an annoyed look. Zac merely shrugged sheepishly and held up the mesh bags of edibles. Her expression immediately lightened and she grabbed his wrist to drag him back inside the grotto.

"Wow!" she praised, as she picked through the bags, lining things up on the stone ledge. "You caught all of this yourself?" When Zac nodded, she beamed at him. "I guess I don't have to teach you as much as I thought."

Zac shrugged again as she divvied up the clams he'd gathered, accepting his share and, when using his nails failed to pry them open, focused his power on splitting the shell open so he could scoop out the flesh.

As they ate, his eyes drifted across the subterranean space. On one side of the grotto sat his backpack and all of the work Evie and Cam had picked up for him. He and Evie had spent time going over it the night before, after which Rita had sent Evie home and taken over Zac's instruction. He still had to do the homework, but for once it was nice not to have to worry about due dates.

Besides, it was awfully hard to do your homework when you couldn't leave the water. Even keeping his upper body too dry for too long made his skin itch uncomfortably. It was the most bizarre sensation—like he'd been out in the outback all day without a drink of water—when all he'd done was wipe off the moisture on his skin for just under an hour.

"Zac?"

Zac blinked. "Huh?"

"You were staring really hard at nothing."

"Oh. It's nothing."

Mimmi shot him a skeptical look. Zac brushed it off again by concentrating on finishing his breakfast. He then went to check his phone for the time, but remembered he didn't have it, nor could he check the position of the sun. "Remind me to ask Rita about putting a clock in here," he muttered.

As if called by magic, they both heard movement come from the grotto's cavern. Mimmi began to clear away the remains of their meal, putting empty shells and things back into the mesh bags. By the time the echo of footsteps grew loud enough to be just around the corner, the ledge had been cleared and washed.

Evie peeked her head around the side of the grotto carefully. When she saw them there, both awake, she brightened, coming down the stairs with a smile. "Zac, Mimmi, good morning!"

They echoed her back, but Zac's brow furrowed. "Shouldn't you…?" he began.

Evie nodded quickly. "Yes, I need to be quick. Here." She held up a large duffle bag— _Zac's_ duffle bag, which she'd been hiding behind her back. He stared at it, eyes widening. "So, me and Cam, we thought about what you said yesterday, about believability? Anyway, Cam snuck into your place and packed a bunch of your things to make it look like you'd...you know, whatever story you end up going with." She placed the duffle bag next to his backpack against the wall and Zac continued to stare at it blankly. "I know it only helps a little, but we thought it might make your parents less worried if it didn't look like you'd simply vanished into thin air."

Zac blinked rapidly, his breathing a little shaky. "Right," he replied, weakly. "Yeah. Okay. Thanks."

Likely sensing his distress, Evie didn't push the matter. Unable to touch him, she simply smiled, blew a kiss, and said her goodbyes. She hurried around the corner of the stairs, backpack slung over one shoulder and Zac ached to go with her.

He never thought he'd ever _miss_ going to school. Never thought he'd _want_ to go so badly it hurt.

He rubbed at his eyes slowly as Mimmi swam closer and placed a hesitant hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"

Zac took a deep breath. "Yeah. I'm fine."

He wasn't, but he was going to have to be.

He turned to face his sister and pretended not to notice the way she studied him worriedly. His eyes travelled back to the bag slumped against the wall. His lips twisted. "I guess no more excuses."

"Huh?" Mimmi twisted to follow his gaze. "Oh." Slowly, she caught his eyes with her own and held them there. "Zac...you need to tell them _something_."

"I know." He pressed his lips together. He let out a heavy sigh. "They don't deserve to think their son ran away from home."

Mimmi shook her head slowly. "But they don't deserve to think he's been kidnapped or dead, either."

Zac grimaced. That was clearly the worst possible option. Then again...if they thought he was in trouble, at least they wouldn't be emotionally hurt by his 'running away', and when he came back, they'd just be _happy_ , rather than angry. But it was selfish to think that way. He only contemplated it for a second before discarding the thought. Putting his parents through that was the worst thing he could do. Letting them think he had run away, but was _safe_ , was the much kinder option.

He sighed again.

He was going to be grounded until he died, after all this was said and done.

He bit the bullet that evening. After a day spent doing absolutely nothing of consequence except follow Mimmi around until she had to leave for her part-time job, he was completely bored and feeling a bit useless. Mimmi had offered to stay with him and call-in sick, or even _quit_ , but he'd insisted she go. She shouldn't have to put _her_ life on hold, just because his had suddenly ground to a halt.

He had been left completely to his own devices and had no idea what to do with himself except to swim around in circles, exploring the reef.

What did mermaids _do_ all day?

At one point he ran into Ondina on her way to the café and asked her that very question. She had rolled her eyes and informed him there was plenty to do, if you knew where to look.

Not helpful.

By the time evening rolled around and Rita was back in the grotto, Zac was bored out of his skull and more than ready to simply gird his loins and call his parents. Mimmi still wasn't back from her job yet, and Evie was at work with Sirena, who was singing that night (maybe he could listen in from under the docks?), so it was just him and Rita.

She had handed him the phone after he dried his hand on a towel and then hovered by the stairs. "Do you want me to leave...or stay?" she eventually asked.

Zac bit his lip. "...stay," he decided. He might need her help with his alibi.

Rita nodded and settled down.

It was funny how just a year ago she'd been 'Principal Santos', the woman no one ever wanted to see outside of school, and now...now she was more like a favoured aunt. Practically family. In fact, considering she was pretending to be Mimmi's aunt, she kind of _was_ family.

"You can do this, Zac," Rita urged.

Taking a deep breath and nodding, Zac dialled.

"Hello?"

"M-mum," Zac said, and his voice shook. He was both relieved and upset that it had been his mother who had picked up. In some ways it would have been easier to talk to his father...but it was good to hear her voice.

"Zac! I don't know how long this project of yours is, but I think you've imposed on Cameron's family for long enough. You need to come home, now."

Zac's fingers clenched hard around the phone's plastic casing and he had to force himself to relax. He tried to organise his thoughts, think of the best way to break the news. "Mum...I, uh…"

"Zac, honey, what is it?" Now she sounded concerned.

Zac licked his lips and his eyes met Rita's across the grotto. She gave him a supportive nod, expression solemn. He took a deep breath...and just blurted it out, "Mum, I'm not coming home."

There was silence on the other end of the line for an unbearably long time. Finally, he heard her exhale softly and say, "Excuse me? You...what?"

"I'm...not coming home."

"Zac Blakely, what do you _mean_ you're _not coming home?_ " she demanded sharply.

"That," Zac replied shakily, pressing the phone hard against his ear. "Exactly. I'm not—I can't—come home. I…" Shit, where were his excuses? His carefully planned words? They flew out the window completely and left him with an empty mind and a thudding heart.

"You _can't_ come home?" his mum repeated incredulously. "Is this some school thing? Have you and Cam gotten yourselves into some kind of trouble?"

He couldn't implicate Cam, so he shook his head, but she couldn't see that. "Uh, no, we're not in trouble."

"I'm calling your Principal. Whatever project or assignment this is, it's gone on too long. I'll have a chat with her and-"

"Wait!" Zac squeaked out, before she got it into her head to hang up and call the exact same number he was using. "Uhh...it's not...not an assignment. I, uh…"

"Young man, did you lie to me?"

"Well, I…"

"And Cam, was he in on this? Where are you, Zac? Tell me right now."

"Not here!" Zac snapped, exhaling sharply. "I...I told you, I _can't_ come home, okay? I'm...somewhere."

"Somewhere," his mother echoed in clear disbelief. She fell silent for a second and Zac reached up to run a hand through his hair. He let his forehead drop to the stone ledge and tried not to groan. This was going just as badly as he had imagined it would. Abruptly, she continued, "If I call the school and ask them about your attendance, what are they going to tell me?"

Zac looked beseechingly at Rita, covered the mouth of the phone and whispered, "What's my school excuse?"

Rita sighed. "I informed your teachers you were ill. I suppose it's going to have to be something fairly nasty to keep you out of school for a whole month." She pursed her lips in annoyance.

Zac thought quickly. "I, uh, the school thinks I'm sick," he told the mouthpiece.

"They _think_ you're sick!"

His head thumped against the ledge again. "I told you, I'm...not here. I...went somewhere. So I can't be in school...and I can't come home."

His mother breathed heavily over the phone. "Zac, what's going on? Are you in trouble?"

That really rather depended on your definition of trouble, he thought. If your definition included mermaids out for your blood...then _yes._ If your definition also included being trapped in the ocean, then _also_ _yes._

But he couldn't say that. And he didn't want her to think he was in some kind of land person trouble like...being witness to a violent crime or something. Actually...maybe he could pretend he was in witness protection...that was a thing, right?

No—that would only worry his parents as well. Everything that involved his _involuntary_ disappearance would worry his parents. If he were a more selfish person, maybe he could do it, but…

"Zac!"

Zac blinked at the phone in his hand and pressed it back against his ear. "No, I'm not in trouble. I'm fine. I promise. I just...can't come home, okay?"

" _Why?_ "

Zac's mouth opened and closed. "Why?" he repeated.

Rita's sharp gaze caught his again and she raised an eyebrow. He shrugged miserably. 'Nerissa', she mouthed.

Zac bit his lip.

"Yes, Zac, _why_ can you not come home? _Where_ are you? What on _earth_ is going on!" His mother grew more angry, more hysterical with each question, until she was practically shouting down the other end of the line. Zac could only stare at the floor of the grotto with wide eyes, mind still horribly blank. All his excuses had fled, he couldn't _think_ , he...

"I...I can't explain. I'll call you later. Okay, love you, bye!"

He hung up.

Rita sighed from her perch on the steps and slowly put a hand to her forehead. " _Zac…_ " she muttered reproachfully.

Zac put down the phone, groaned, and buried his head in his arms. "'M'sorry," he said, voice muffled. "I just panicked!"

"Zac," Rita repeated with a sigh.

Zac raised his head. "I mean, I had like a million excuses, but all of them would have upset her in different ways. I thought about saying I was in witness protection, but that would make them worry I was in danger. I thought about saying I'd run away. I thought about saying I was on a sudden school trip…"

"You can't use school, or me, as an excuse, Zac, I'm sorry," Rita butted in, lips pinched. "They'll investigate and I'd lose my job. It's too risky."

Zac groaned again. "Okay, well, you see the issue. There's no good excuse."

"Zac, _not_ telling them anything is just as bad."

He thumped his head against the lip of the pool again and contemplated sinking to the bottom and just pretending the rest of the world didn't exist. It wouldn't be too far off from the truth, anyway. "I know," he sighed.

Rita stood and walked the short distance from the steps to the pool. She crouched down, hand reaching for the phone. She paused when she had it in hand, looking from it to Zac. "Maybe it's time you trusted your parents with your secret."

Zac stared at her in horror. His mouth dropped open. "Are you _serious?_ "

Rita straightened, smoothing down her shirt and undoing a crease in her trousers. The phone dangled from one hand. "Yes, I'm serious."

"But it's not just my secret to tell," Zac countered, eyes still wide with surprise.

He remembered a time when he would have jumped at telling people what he could do, but knowing the truth now, knowing what was at stake...it was just too risky. It wasn't just his secret anymore, but the secret of an entirely different world. It was his sister's secret, and Rita's, and all the other merfolk's.

Not to mention that his parents would never look at him the same way again.

He'd never had to tell someone a secret of this magnitude before.

When he had told Cam, it had been different. Back then, it had felt like he had gained a cool super-power, but he had still been Zac Blakely…the _human._ Cam had had time to get used to his powers before finding out the real truth. Evie finding out had been an unavoidable mistake, he hadn't _told_ her so much as accidentally shown her. Her acceptance had been much harder to come by.

He couldn't only imagine how his parents would react. Surprise? Horror? _Disgust?_

Even if they were accepting...they'd never be able to forget that he wasn't human. They'd _know_ he was different. They'd treat him differently.

Just the thought of them looking at him with that knowledge in their eyes terrified him.

Rita tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear and pursed her lips, looking down at Zac with softening eyes. "I know it's not easy. They're your parents. But do you honestly think you can go the rest of your life without telling them the truth? This way they can know who you really are and you won't need to lie to them anymore."

That perspective had its appeal, but Rita had hit the nail on the head: it _wasn't_ easy.

He licked his lips and pushed back from the ledge. "I'll...think about it. I, uh, gotta go." He didn't, really, but he could use Sirena's singing as an excuse. If he swam under the café's docks, he'd probably be able to hear.

He had nothing better to do with his evening.

"Alright, Zac. But please, think about it and know that we'll support your decision. I'm willing to speak with your parents about things, if you decide that's the route you want to go."

Zac paused in the middle of the pool in surprise. He shot Rita an wide-eyed look. "Really? You'd do that?"

She nodded, a small smile tugging at her lips. "Of course."

That...made the prospect a little less daunting. "I...I'll think about it."

Rita nodded and left the conversation at that. Zac watched her go and sat in the middle of the pool, thinking. He was still thinking when he ducked underwater and headed on auto-pilot towards the café's docks. The water around him was dark and silent, but glittered with moonlight enough to see by. The ocean was such an incredible place - bright and colourful during the day, and dark and mysterious during the night.

His mind was awhirl. He just didn't know what to do. Tell his parents or not?

On the one hand, it would be such a relief not to have to lie. For them to _know_. To not have to hide who he was. He could introduce them to Mimmi…

On the other hand, the risk was enough to make his stomach churn. He needed to talk to Mimmi. Maybe she could help him sort out this mess in his head. It would affect her just as much as him, if he told them.

And Evie. He should talk to her as well. She knew his parents —knew how they'd react. Not to mention she'd gone through the same shock, once, when she found out about him and the girls.

Navigating to the café docks in the dark was a lot harder than during the day, but in the months he'd had to explore the coastline, he'd become pretty efficient at getting around by locating significant underwater landmarks and by judging the steepness of the underwater slopes at different points along the docks and beaches. When he began to make out the long, barnacle-encrusted wooden poles that held up the huge pier that David's café sat on, he slowed down until he floated directly underneath their dark shadow. Not even the moonlight could pierce the darkness underneath, and the water was cooler and more still.

He surfaced silently and peered up through the dark slats in the pier. Footsteps echoed from above, along with dripping and the lapping of waves. And, faintly, Sirena's voice.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem to carry so well beneath the wood.

Zac glanced around. He could see David's boat tied up at the dock, but it was empty. No one was around to see him, so he felt safe in moving out from underneath the pier and circling the side of the café until he was directly below but to the side of the pier, closest to the door. Still nothing. He could hear her voice, faintly, but it was like it was being snatched away by the wind.

He sighed. So much for _that_ plan.

Suddenly, there was a niggling sort of tingle in his head, like an itch he couldn't scratch. He blinked a few times to get rid of it, but it grew stronger, and then suddenly, his mind flashed to an underwater scene. Strands of dark hair floated across his vision and he could see the darkened coral that marked the entrance to the moon pool.

Just as suddenly as the vision had come over him, it left, and the niggling sensation in his mind died.

He shook his head, putting a hand to his forehead as his brow crinkled. That had seemed an awful lot like the times he'd sensed Mimmi was in danger and had seen through her eyes...but Mimmi wasn't in danger...was she?

He had seen the entrance to the moon pool...dark hair...like Mimmi's…

But why?

He ducked underwater and kicked his fins a few feet, drifting forward and staring out into the darkness. He wasn't getting a feeling of panic or fear from her, but why else would he have had that strange vision?

He felt a disturbance in the water, and froze, squinting into the darkness. Then, suddenly, Mimmi came torpedoing towards him and flipped to a halt feet away. He twisted aside and stared at her with wide eyes. She grinned at him and pointed to the surface.

As soon as they emerged beneath the pier, Mimmi let out a breathless laugh. "It works!"

Zac opened and shut his mouth. "What?"

Mimmi gestured animatedly. "Well, I thought, okay, so we can sense when one of us is in distress right? Like, upset or scared."

Zac nodded.

"So I thought, why not try to use our connection to figure out where you were? I checked the moon pool and Rita's grotto and you weren't there and I didn't want to search the whole _coast_." She paused, shaking her head like that was absurd. "So I concentrated really hard on our connection and voila!"

That...was actually kind of handy. "I felt you," he informed her, "but it was different —there was no emotion. I could just see what you saw for a second."

She beamed. "I know, I think if we practice we can always find each other."

"Like a mental telephone," Zac said thoughtfully. Considering that keeping track of someone in the ocean was rather difficult, he could see how this might be incredibly useful if they could send mental images to each other.

"Exactly!" Mimmi glanced up at the dock above them. "Is Sirena singing tonight?"

Zac sighed. "Yeah, but I can't really hear from down here."

Her face fell slightly. "Sorry, Zac."

He shrugged it off. "It's fine." It wasn't fine. He felt incredibly ostracised. Everyone was continuing on with their lives, but he was stuck on pause. It was…frustrating.

Mimmi saw right through him. She bobbed in place, turning away from the faint strains of sound. "What about your parents, did you talk to them yet?"

Zac sunk down to his chin guiltily. He considered submerging himself completely and pretending he hadn't heard her. "Uhhh…Sort of."

The look she sent him was full of reproach. " _Zac_."

He looked away. "I…"

"Tomorrow," Mimmi informed him through narrowed eyes. "Don't make me take things into my own hands. I'll go talk to your parents myself if I have to."

He whirled on her. "Don't you dare!"

She set her jaw in an expression he knew meant nothing would change her mind. They shared that particular stubborn trait. He clenched his teeth. _"Mimmi,_ " he warned.

She raised an eyebrow. "I will, Zac. You have to face this. Just _tell_ them. Stop putting it off."

"Fine!" he snapped exasperatedly.

"Good."

* * *

 _[31.03.16] What's this, another chapter? Shocking, I know. I've been doing a bit more writing recently. Oh, and costuming. You know when you get sudden creative urges and think "Hmm, I should make a historically accurate Regency ball gown"? Yeah, I got one of those._

 _Meanwhile, Zac might be capable of adapting to his situation but he's still not coping with the sudden cut-off from all he's ever known. Cue more angsting, oh, and a little bit of plot development..._


	7. Chapter 7

7.

Four days, it had been four days. Four days of being stuck in the ocean and he was going stir-crazy. There was nothing to _do_. Maybe mermaids had developed a society and everyone had tasks to carry out and things to do every day, but for one lone merman whose whole life awaited him on land? There was nothing. Food was either collected specifically at mealtimes, or offered from Rita's fridge. He had no need to make jewellery and had no lengthy tresses to brush or decorate, like he'd seen Mimmi spend hours doing on occasion. He didn't sing, like Sirena, or speak Dolphin, or know how to look for ingredients for potions and spells.

All he had was an open ocean and nothing but time.

Mimmi was doing her best to keep him company, he could tell, but even she had a life on land now, people to see, a job to go to.

Zac wandered the coast aimlessly, mind churning over Mimmi's threat from the night before. He was so distracted he barely paid any attention to where he was swimming and somehow drifted towards a part of the reef that was usually occupied by scuba tours.

Only a glimpse out of the corner of his eye and the fact that the diver was facing away from him saved him. He threw up his invisibility immediately, freezing in place. The scuba diver twisted around, as if he might have glimpsed something, but when nothing caught his searching eye, the man kept turning until, eventually, he began to swim slowly in the opposite direction. A second diver emerged from behind a coral outcropping and the two joined up and kept swimming.

Zac released a small sigh, bubbles escaping his lips. He hung still in the water for a moment, letting his pounding heart slowly ease. He was a brainless idiot. He'd nearly exposed himself!

Clearly, he had a lot on his mind, but that was no excuse for carelessness. Turning quickly, he sped back towards the safer waters around Mako, where the sharks liked to dwell and scuba tours never ventured.

Not that there was anything to do in the waters around Mako.

He spent half of the day in the moon pool, rearranging the girls' shell collection and thinking. He wanted to come up with a good enough excuse that he could convince his parents not to worry, but at the same time, prevent them from grounding him until he died. Unfortunately, such an excuse did not seem forthcoming.

What Mimmi wanted him to do was impossible. _Tell_ them the _truth?_ The very thought sent shivers down his spine, straight to the tip of his tail.

Then again, Mimmi always treated everyone with more trust than they deserved. Ondina would agree with him that it was a terrible idea. Maybe he should drop a hint in her ear to talk some sense into Mimmi.

No, instead of revealing to his parents that their son was actually a merman, it was better to go straight to the heart of the problem - getting his legs back. What he needed to do was find a way to plead his case to the Mermaid Council. He needed to talk to Veridia.

He turned to leave, only to draw up short as he felt the ripples in the water hit his scales. He paused and sure enough, a familiar blonde head of hair rose from the water. Ondina blinked at him slowly, before her lips pursed. "What are you doing here?"

Zac raised an eyebrow. "Where else am I supposed to go?"

Ondina opened her mouth then shut it again with a sigh. Her eyes drifted past him to the newly organized collections of shells and her scowl returned. "Have you been messing with my things?" She swam over quickly, eyes scanning the rows of shells.

"I was bored," Zac complained. "Honestly, what do mer people _do_ all day. There's nothing to do out here."

Finished inspecting her shells, Ondina turned and braced her hand on the edge of the pool. She stared at Zac like he was speaking gibberish. "There's plenty to do," she said, baffled. "If you're not in school then you have to help out the pod, like gathering ingredients and food. Some days you find things for jewellery, especially if you know you might be trading soon with another pod." She paused, thinking. "Then there's the scouts, who keep an eye out for land-people and warn the pod of their approach. It depends on your job. There are plenty."

Zac hadn't expected such a thorough answer. He digested it slowly, wondering if that was what his sister's life had been like before she came to land. Shaking his head, he focused on the issue at hand. "Yeah, but what do you do without a pod? When you're all alone and you have no one else around?"

Ondina opened her mouth again, but then it clicked shut a second later as her eyes widened. "Oh."

He shrugged. "Exactly."

She grimaced. "I...keep forgetting you can't just wander over to the café or...go to school, anymore." She frowned down at the water. "I've...got nothing. Unless you want to learn things we're taught in mermaid school."

"Mimmi's trying," Zac pointed out. "But she's got her job, so she had to leave."

Ondina was silent for a while, before, finally, she shook her head. "I've got nothing."

He sighed heavily. "Thanks anyway." Except he really wished she could have come up with some brilliant idea to keep him entertained. Swimming around was all very well and good if you had someone with you. It got lonely all by yourself. In fact, he'd even take Ondina's company over nothing, despite her prickly exterior.

He kicked up his tail and tilted his head back to stare at the opening in the volcano. He expected Ondina to either kick him out or leave, so was startled into flipping over when she approached him and asked, hesitantly, "I've...got some time now, if you want to...do something."

Zac gaped at her. Ondina never offered to hang out with him. He must cut a pretty pathetic picture right now for her to feel obligated to alleviate his boredom. Sadly, he was simply too bored to pass up the opportunity to actually do something other than float around and wallow in his own thoughts.

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Hmm…" Ondina tapped her chin. "Oh! Mimmi said she was teaching you Dolphin. I can keep teaching you that, and then, when there's no one around, at least you can hang out with the dolphin pods."

That...was actually pretty smart. Dolphins, Zac gathered, were exceptionally playful and awfully fond of racing. "I...yeah. Sounds good."

They smiled at each other. As Ondina gestured for Zac to follow her out of the moon pool, he decided that one more good thing had come of this disaster. Ondina was being more friendly now than she ever had been before.

They found a small dolphin pod playing around just beyond the reef on the other side of Mako. There were some boats so far out they were mere specks, so neither of them were worried they'd be spotted. Ondina spent several hours teaching him how to make the clicks in the back of his throat.

"It's helpful in the dark, too," she explained when Zac managed to squeak, but failed to get the extra click in there. "We don't use echolocation the same way as dolphins do, but when you can't see someone, the sound travels easier underwater, so you can communicate through sound instead of gestures." She demonstrated with a gesture that clearly meant 'come over, up to the surface' and then said the same thing in Dolphin through a series of clicks. "Come on, listen underwater."

Zac ducked under the waves and watched her curiously as she made the same clicking sound. It was distorted a little, travelling through the water, but it was so much easier to hear than if she'd tried to speak in English. She gestured at him to drift further away and put some space between them, so he did. She made the same noise, and he could still hear it.

One of the dolphins broke away from the pod and swam up to nose at them. He clicked something that sounded, to Zac's untrained ear, like a question, and stuck his nose right up against Ondina's stomach. Ondina laughed and pushed him away with a grin, shaking her head. She squeaked 'No' (that one, Zac understood). The dolphin turned to him and did the same thing. Zac shrugged at it, shooting a questioning look at Ondina.

Smirking, she made a similar series of noises like the ones she had originally wanted to demonstrate. They sounded like any other series of noises dolphins he'd ever heard, but Zac was slowly becoming more capable of distinguishing that some sounded different...just not quite _how_ they were different... _yet._

Since he thought they sounded the same as when she had said 'come over, up to the surface', he gave a flick of his tail and breached the lapping waves.

"Good!" Ondina grinned at him. "You got it!"

"Did I?" he wondered, surprised at himself. He shifted to the side, arm coming up to shield his face, as the overly friendly dolphin popped up beside him and blew spray at him from his nose. "Hey!"

"He wanted to know if we were going to play a game," Ondina explained, voice laced with laughter. "I told him no, but you haven't refused yet, so he'll keep messing with you until you do."

By this point, Zac was fairly sure he could say 'yes', 'no', 'please', 'thank you', 'hello' and 'goodbye' and that was it. When he tried to say 'good morning' half the time he ended up saying 'good night' and when he tried to say 'I'm hungry', he apparently said 'I'm a fish'. Ondina thought it was hysterical and wouldn't stop laughing at him.

 _No,_ he tried to squeak at the dolphin. The grey nose bumped his arm and the dolphin turned to peer at him in the eye. He clicked something.

"He wants to know 'no, what'?" Ondina translated.

Zac glanced at her helplessly.

"I taught you 'play'," she urged.

Shrugging sheepishly, he shook his head. "I don't remember."

Rolling her eyes, Ondina made a short click-whistle sound and the dolphin immediately perked up eagerly.

Zac tried his best to copy it. He was honestly shocked when he managed to produce dolphin-esque sounds. He was almost certain that land people couldn't speak dolphin no matter how hard they tried. It must be part mer-magic.

The dolphin made a sad clicking noise in response to his declaration and rolled onto his side, clapping his flippers encouragingly. Zac hesitated. "How do I say 'later'?"

Ondina raised her eyebrows, but obliged. When the dolphin heard, he chirped happily and swam a circle around them before swimming back over to his pod. Zac watched him go with a faint smile.

"Looks like you have a new friend," said Ondina.

Zac laughed. "Yeah, looks like."

* * *

He was falling behind in his studies and it had barely been a week. The problem wasn't the lack of time - no, time was something he had _plenty_ of these days - but rather how hard it was to focus on school work when that life seemed so far removed from the ocean. Not to mention how difficult it was to keep himself propped up on the ledge of Rita's grotto pool, upper body dry and itchy, as he tried read his textbooks and work on homework problems without the aid of a decent writing surface, or the teacher's lecture.

Zac wasn't exactly a stellar student on the best of days, but not attending class and trying to read the textbook when he was distracted by just about everything uncomfortable about the situation was...well...not conducive to being a good student.

Perhaps he should have cared more, but he found it hard to worry about _school_ when he was more worried about his _parents'_ reactions to his fish-half. It almost felt like he was on holiday. All those little worries that plagued everyday land-person life just...vanished in the ocean. Remembering to wake up on time, or do his laundry, or clean his room...go to school, do homework, study for tests...hang out at the Café… None of those obligations had any hold on him while he was stuck in the sea, unable to go on land. So he just...stopped worrying about them.

It still didn't mean he wasn't bored, but it was the kind of boredom that came with having too much free time, not from having to do tedious tasks like _homework_ and _studying_.

"Zac? Zac!"

Zac jerked his head up from where he'd lain his cheek against his crossed arms. Groaning, he pulled his arms back from the grotto ledge and dunked them (and his head) under the water to get rid of the itchy dry feeling that was beginning to plague him. When he popped back up, Evie was giving him an unimpressed look from over the top of their chemistry textbook.

He blinked sea water out of his eyes and tried to look innocent.

"Zac, if you can't pay attention, I'm not going to waste my time trying to go over this with you," Evie lectured crossly.

Zac shrugged, reaching up to prop himself on the ledge once more. He was beginning to hate that stupid ledge. It was an insurmountable barrier, not to mention highly uncomfortable.

"Sorry, but it's hard to follow."

Evie sighed. She closed the book and set it beside her on the ground, next to Zac's other textbooks, half of which he hadn't touched in over a day. "You're missing so much school," she worried, chewing her lip. "I honestly don't know how you're going to catch up if you don't stay on top of things."

Zac let go of the ledge to spread his hands helplessly. "Evie, do you know how difficult it is to work on stuff when I can't leave the water? And paper does not do well if it gets wet."

Evie sighed again. "I know. It doesn't look very...comfortable." She eyed where Zac had spread out his notes and the awkward angle he had to prop himself up at in order to actually write on the paper.

"Why don't we take a break… Go for a swim?" Zac cajoled hopefully. "There's this pod of dolphins I've been meaning to introduce you to."

The look Evie gave him then almost seemed worried, but Zac figured she was still fretting about his lack of attention to his schoolwork. Evie tended to worry about those things far more than he ever had. Instead, she merely began to pack away her own things into her backpack. With her head still ducked over, focusing intently on putting her books and notes away, she asked, deceptively casually, "So...have you given any more thought to telling your parents?"

Zac stiffened. He pushed away from the ledge with a quick kick of his tail and bobbed in the middle of the pool. "Do we _have_ to-"

"Yes," Evie interrupted, abandoning the pretence of putting away her things. She stood up and crossed her arms. "We _do._ Because you're avoiding the issue... _still_."

Zac narrowed his eyes. "So if I said you had to tell your dad the truth you wouldn't be worried or nervous or think it was a bad idea?"

Evie's frown deepened.

"Not to mention, it's not just _me_ I'd be exposing," he pushed.

Her arms dropped. "I know that," she said, quietly, "But, Zac, I don't see much other choice here. Your parents need to know. I'm sure they'll be shocked - I know I was, when I first found out - but it'll work out for the best, I know it. _We're_ fine, aren't we?"

Zac shifted uncomfortably. He remembered the complete lack of hesitation he'd had in diving in after Evie, knowing he'd expose himself and just not _caring_ because otherwise Evie would _drown._

But back then had also been different. Before, all he'd been exposing was how he had cool secret powers. It had been different when he had thought he was a super-powered human. Now that he knew he'd been _born_ a merman - that he wasn't, hadn't _ever been_ , human - that was a whole different ballgame.

Evie had had time to come to terms with his 'powers' before she found out he was a real merman, but his parents would have no warning before he told them they'd adopted a fish-baby. He couldn't imagine them being anything other than shocked. And even if they did try to accept it, they'd probably always wonder about him and act weird around him and…

"Zac." Evie was crouched by the edge of the pool now, expression wry. "I can practically see your thoughts. They're not going to hate you, and sure, they might act a bit weird, but can you blame them? It's a hard thing to accept that magic and mermaids and stuff is real."

Zac bit his lip.

"But you have to give them a chance. And time."

"What if they freak out like you did and go to the police...or worse...My dad's a _doctor_ , Evie. What if he thinks he can...I don't know... _cure_ me or something?"

"Now you're being ridiculous."

Zac scowled.

"Come on, I'll go swimming with you and I want you to think about it more. Mimmi, Rita and I have all talked about this, you know, we all think you should tell them."

Zac turned away, huffing. Great. Now his sister and his 'aunt' were also conspiring behind his back. Perfect.

"Cam was fine with it. I was fine with it. _They_ 'll be fine with it," Evie concluded. "Now, what was that about dolphins?"

Zac seized on the change of subject quickly. As they swam out of the grotto and in the direction of the dolphin pod's latest location, Evie's words echoed around his head. He knew she was right, he was probably being way too hesitant about all of this, but...it was hard to give up that last tiny vestige of normality he still had left.

Then again, he thought morosely, that ship had sailed when Veridia took away his legs. Even if he managed to get home next month, there would be questions.

Evie was right, he needed to tell them.

* * *

 _[16.08.16] No, you're not hallucinating...that **was** a new chapter. A little bit of a filler chapter, I confess, but I thought Zac and Ondina could do with some bonding time. A little plot progression at the end... Oh, who am I kidding, what plot? I'm completely winging this, people. Let me know thoughts!  
[15.11.16] Edited to remove minor timeline plothole. At this point, Carly has not found out yet. Will update with next chapter soon!_


	8. Chapter 8

8.

Naturally, despite Zac's new resolution, nothing happened immediately. First, of course, he had to come up with the right _way_ to tell his parents the truth. This was a delicate process, not something he could just dump on them without so much as a by-your-leave and expect them to be okay with it. He had to ease them into the idea. Not to mention, it wasn't like he could sit them down himself and tell them _before_ showing them the proof. He was currently all the proof they'd need and shocking them before he could give them a proper explanation didn't exactly seem like a good way to keep them calm, accepting and less likely to call the police.

His mum was already convinced something horrible had happened to him, he didn't want to suddenly show up with a fish tail and give her a heart attack.

He spent a few days dithering. He suspected he was driving Mimmi mad coming up with and then discarding plans. Eventually, she got fed up.

"Oh, honestly! _I'll_ go tell them the truth!" she exclaimed, throwing up a hand in exasperation.

Zac's tail stopped kicking long enough for him to start sinking below the water line. He came back up with a splutter. "What? No!"

Mimmi shot him a _look._ "They'll find out about me anyway." She paused, expression softening. "You're worried they'll freak out before you can explain everything, right?"

Shrugging awkwardly, he nodded. Basically, yes, that was his biggest worry. He didn't want another 'misunderstanding' like had happened with Evie.

Mimmi nodded thoughtfully. "I think you're right, someone should explain it to them first and _then_ show them. That's the easiest way, right?" She snapped her fingers. "Rita and I can go!"

Zac stared. "Rita?"

"She's in a position of authority for land people. They're more likely to believe her," Mimmi explained.

He _had_ considered that. That they would _have_ to accept the truth if it were coming from his Principal rather than him. Of course, he could only imagine the chaos should Rita and Mimmi turn up at the doorstep and announce they were mermaids and that Zac was a merman and Mimmi's long-lost brother and currently stuck without legs in the ocean. _That_ would not go down well.

He bit his lip. Mimmi's eyes followed the movement and she clucked her tongue in exasperation yet again. "Zac! You listen to me! You can't keep swimming away from this! No matter what, it's going to be hard to tell them, so you just have to suck it up and _do it!_ "

He watched her shoot him one last annoyed look before ducking under the water and speeding off. Great, now he'd ostracised the only family member who _wouldn't_ look at him like he was a freak.

He glanced helplessly around the open ocean, at the bright morning sun reflecting off the waves, at Mako Island to his right and the endless horizon to his left. He looked over his shoulder in the direction of the mainland, and sighed. He scrubbed a hand through his hair and covered his eyes. "Good job, Zac," he told himself.

It had been well over a week, now, since Veridia had taken his legs. The weekend had passed and he hadn't been able to go hang out at the café, visit Evie at work, watch a movie with her, go on walks on the beach, or even just _talk_ to anyone who wasn't a mermaid, his girlfriend, or his best friend.

It had been a very long, boring weekend, and an even longer and more boring week. It also seemed that the longer he stayed away from it all, the more he didn't want to even _look_ at his textbooks. Evie tried every day to get him to focus, but it was so _hard_ when he had to haul himself half out of the grotto pool, or drag himself up onto a secluded Mako beach and sit there in the hot sun, feeling every inch of him itch and burn at the dry prickling feeling that came with being out of water too long. All he could really concentrate on was getting back in the water, not on Evie trying to explain sines and cosines to him. Her voice became a buzzing in his ears and the lines of the pages of his textbook would blur and before he realised it, Evie would be standing in a huff, shooting him worried and disappointed looks, and stalking off.

School just seemed so…distant right now. It was hard to feel panicked or worried about not being there for the latest maths test. What was he going to do, drag two hundred pounds of wet fish-tail through the streets to the school and take the test lying on the floor as he slowly dried out?

The very idea made him shiver and he ducked under the waves so that his head and shoulders were no longer exposed to the hot rays of the sun.

It was strange how he'd never wondered about how easy it was for sea creatures to dry out, before Veridia had taken his legs. Mimmi said it was something to do with the magic that allowed the transformation between their mer and land forms. Being dry triggered the change and the transformation magic protected them from drying out in land form, so they never had to worry about getting too dry.

Mers not protected by this magic had every chance of drying out and it was incredibly dangerous to become beached or to go out in the sun for too long.

He sighed again, bubbles escaping his mouth, before he turned towards the direction Mimmi had darted off to. Hopefully he'd catch her in time before she disappeared onto land and refused to speak to him for the rest of the day. If not…well…the dolphins were always chatty, and he was getting decent enough at dolphin small talk by now.

* * *

Zac swam around underneath the docks with impatient flicks of his fins. Surely Evie should have come down by now to check on her dad? It was getting annoying having to avoid all the speedboats coming in and out of the docks, not to mention staying in water deep enough to keep his form obscured. He stilled beneath a barnacle-encrusted pillar and glanced up at the dark shadow above.

Mimmi still wasn't talking to him, and because Mimmi was angry at him, Ondina turned up her nose and went to hang out with Erik at the café. Cam was too busy trying to awkwardly flirt with Carly for Zac to get anything of sense out of him, and Sirena was too busy prepping for another night of singing, which left Evie. Evie might be annoyed that he was having trouble focusing on his schoolwork, but she hadn't abandoned him completely.

He'd go crazy if all he had to talk to were _dolphins._

Once again, he surfaced for a quick peek, but there was nobody on the dock, so he gripped the edge and pulled himself up higher to look around. He was maybe one boat down from Evie's dad's scuba touring boat. Considering the man himself was currently on board counting up the day's income and checking over his equipment, he'd be a fool to get any closer.

"Come on, where are you?" he muttered.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps on wood and quickly lowered himself back down, only letting the top of his forehead peak above the dock to see who was coming. It was Mr. McLaren, climbing around on the dock, unloading some things from the boat. Zac relaxed, but kept a careful eye on the man's back, just in case he turned around.

What he wouldn't give to be able to carry a mobile phone around with him. He could attach it to his wrist and let it dangle…if only he could find a way to waterproof it, but that kind of equipment was _expensive._

For the next thirty minutes, he played peek-a-boo with Mr. McLaren's back until finally— _finally—_ he heard Evie's dulcet voice float over the soft ocean breeze. He dived low as he swam closer to the boat, going under the keel of the neighbouring vessel and edging close to the point where water lapped at the hull. Sparing a moment's concentration to turn invisible, he surfaced as quietly as he could and kicked lightly to manoeuvre his way along the side of Mr. McLaren's boat.

"Dad, let me help you with that," he heard Evie say. Both her and her father's backs were turned to him and he searched the dock for something to use to get her attention. He'd splash her, but, well…that would be risky.

He edged closer.

"Oh, drat, I forgot the ledger inside. Hold on a moment, Evie." Mr. McLaren stood and turned and Zac froze in place, barely daring to breathe. He may be invisible, but he still affected his surroundings and he didn't want Evie's dad to get an eyeful of some very strange water patterns and try to take a closer look.

Zac waited until Mr. McLaren had climbed back inside before hissing, "Evie!"

Evie's head shot up and she glanced around, brow scrunched in confusion. Zac rolled his eyes and whispered, a bit louder, "Evie!"

Evie finally turned, eyes searching the right place. Zac deliberating splashed his hands and suddenly Evie's eyes were right on him, narrowing dangerously? " _Zac?_ " she whispered incredulously. Her head whipped around before she quickly crouched at the edge of the dock. "What are you doing? My dad's right inside!"

"I know," Zac whispered back. "Meet me at the end of the docks in five, okay?"

"What? But—"

Zac didn't wait to hear her protests. If she didn't get to voice them, she'd be forced to show up and he wasn't going to wait around for her to negotiate a longer time. He had been waiting _all day._

Sure enough, five minutes later, Evie clopped her way down to the end of the dock in her flip-flops, eyes darting all over the water for a glimpse of iridescent blue or a flash of tanned skin. Zac stuck a hand over the edge of the dock and waved to get her attention. Pretty soon she was making a beeline for him.

She crouched at the edge. "Zac, what's this about, I—"

He didn't know why he did it. Maybe it was the boredom. Maybe he was slowly going a little crazy with nothing to do, day in and day out. Maybe he just wanted her to have no choice but to hang out with him a little. Regardless, it was a split second decision when he reached up, wrapped a wet hand around her wrist…and _yanked._

Evie's scream of surprise was cut off mid-splash and Zac dragged her under just in time to watch the bubbles engulf her and change her legs into a beautiful, shining, golden-orange tail. Her arms waved around, windmilling for a moment as she struggled to right herself in the water. Finally, she was floating upright, hair billowing around her like a dark cloud, and an expression of impending doom on her face.

 _Whoops._ Zac had less than a second to regret his decision before Evie darted forward, grabbed his arm, took off in the direction of Rita's. Zac let her drag him for a few moments, but then he beat his fins a few times to catch up to her speed and propelled himself with a surge of power until he shot right past her and her grip broke. Instead of catching up with him, Evie let him pass and then reached out and grabbed the end of his fins with two hands and _yanked._

Zac let out a squeak of surprise and pain. He flipped over, tail kicking, and Evie let go, but then they hung there in a kind of stand-off, somewhere just beyond the docks, as a few sailboats cast shadows across the surface above them.

" _Why?"_ he clicked at her, open palm rising with his one-armed shrug.

Evie blinked at him, shook her head, then then pointed towards Rita's, then made an 'up' gesture. Zac raised his eyebrows, and shook his own head. He was sick of Rita's grotto. He didn't want to hang out there, he wanted to do something different. He pointed in the direction of Mako.

Evie crossed her arms and her expression tightened.

He wanted to take her to the dolphins. She had _loved_ meeting them last time, but hadn't had much time to play. He was sure she wanted to see them again. He pointed back in the direction of Mako and squeaked, " _Dolphins!"_

Maybe, possibly, she'd get the meaning.

Evie's expression tightened further, lips pressing firmly and Zac began to wonder if he'd gone too far. He'd just pulled her into the water—she couldn't be that angry about it…could she?

He made a gesture that he thought looked a lot like a playing dolphin and repeated himself, just to see, but Evie's expression didn't change. He sighed and groaned. "Fine," he mouthed, throwing up his hands.

Satisfied, Evie nodded at him and turned tail for Rita's. Sighing again in a flurry of bubbles, Zac followed her. No doubt she was going to lecture him about the irresponsibility of suddenly pulling her into the water in the middle of broad daylight, while her dad was nearby.

When they surfaced in Rita's grotto, Zac hung back near the entrance as Evie gripped the edge of the stone lip surrounding the pool and shot him a look over her shoulder. Her expression was equal parts annoyed and…well, something he couldn't quite decipher. His eyes widened.

"What was that?" Evie finally said.

"What was what?" Zac replied.

Evie stared at him, unimpressed.

Zac shrugged. "What? I can't want to hang out with my girlfriend?"

Evie let go of the ledge with one hand and gestured broadly in what might have been the direction of the docks. "Zac! You could clearly see I was busy!"

"Well when else am I going to see you?" he nearly snapped. He breathed out slowly and tried to hold his temper in. He shouldn't be angry, he was just frustrated. Evie didn't understand—she still had her routine, the only difference was that Zac just wasn't in it anymore. But for him it was the opposite—he had nothing but the wide ocean and far too much time on his hands not to go stir-crazy.

Evie's mouth tightened. "We find time—besides, we sit down to go over our homework every day, Zac-"

He cut her off with a snort. "Oh yeah, homework. I want to actually _enjoy_ our time together, Evie."

Evie sighed, expression shifting to sympathy. "I know. And I'm sorry, but I can't just go swimming off at a moment's notice." She seemed to hover on the verge of saying something else, if the way she began to bite her lip was any indication. Zac watched her expression closely and wondered whether to try to coax it out of her. Just as he was about to ask her what was wrong, she blurted out, "Besides, it seems to me like you're not really all that worried about keeping up with your schoolwork."

"Sure I am," he retorted, immediately defensive. "You know how difficult it is to study like this. I'm doing my best."

Evie stared at him, searching his gaze. "Are you? Or are you more interested in playing with dolphins?"

He crossed his arms tightly. His tail kicked harder to keep him afloat and he bobbed in the water. "Oh, and what else am I supposed to do all day, huh?"

Evie let go of the ledge, as if she might swim closer, but then she changed her mind and pressed back against it. " _I'm_ in school all day, would it kill you to spend a few hours going over your books?"

His crossed arms tightened. "I told you, I get dry. It's uncomfortable."

Evie's gaze darted away from his face. Her eyebrows scrunched together as she bit her lip. "Okay, I know. I'm sorry. It's just…"

He propelled himself a foot closer. He felt like she was on the verge of saying something important. Maybe what had been bugging her these past few days, besides his inability to focus on schoolwork…or tell his parents the truth. She'd been shooting him a lot of strange looks that he'd dutifully pretended not to notice. "Just…what?"

Evie ran a hand through her wet hair and then pushed the strands behind her ear. She glanced at him for a moment, then lowered her eyes to the water. Her fingers began to swirl it around in front of her, making little eddies in the pool. Zac hovered uncertainly.

Eventually, she sighed. "It's just…just…seeing you like this…I guess it just drives it home, you know?"

 _No, not really,_ he thought dryly. "Drives what home?"

She met his eyes. "That…that this is where you belong." She gestured vaguely towards the ocean. "You know, this is how you were meant to live, and…and I guess it's just made me worry that…that you might decide you don't _want_ to come back. That maybe you'd rather be a merman all the time and…"

Zac had heard enough. He swam closer and grabbed her hand, stopping it's movement. "Evie. Hey. You know that's not true. You know I like my life, and like living on land, with my parents and my friends…with _you_."

She nodded quietly and their hands loosened enough for hers to slip out. She reached up and gripped the pool ledge. "I know that, I know that's what you _say_ , but…"

"No buts. That's how I _feel._ "

Evie studied his expression. "Are you sure?" she said, voice soft like a whisper. "I mean…Zac…this is how you were _meant_ to live."

"But I grew up on land," he pointed out quickly. "So I don't think I could live in the ocean forever."

Evie's hand came up and covered her eyes for a moment. She laughed. "Gosh, sorry. I know it's a silly thing to think. I guess…I guess I was just worried that…I don't know, some part of you, the mer-part, would realise this is where you belong, and then you'd want to stay in the ocean, and then I'd lose you, and…"

Zac grabbed her hand again, eyes wide in surprise at her confession. He clasped the hand between his, brushing a thumb over the back slowly. With the wet slide of water between their skin, her hand felt silky smooth. He squeezed it and let go. "Evie, come on, you know me. I don't know where you're getting that idea from, but you know I want my legs back just as badly as you do. Wait, no, _more_ than you do," he joked, flashing her a toothy grin.

Evie laughed again, shortly, and shook her head. Her eyes were a little bright, a self-deprecating smile creeping its way across her mouth. "Yeah, I know, I guess I just saw how _well_ you've been adjusting. I mean, right now my boyfriend really _is_ a merman-"

"Um, haven't I always been?"

"No, but I mean, before, you still had legs, it wasn't much different, you know?" She shrugged, smiling wryly. "But now I feel like one of those girls in the fantasy stories, whose boyfriend is some mystical creature and we have to sneak around and hide our relationship because it's forbidden, and I can only see you in the water. We can't go out, or watch a movie together, or hang out at the café anymore. You don't come and say hi when I'm working. I guess…it's just been hard for me, too. Even though you're still right here, I've missed you," she finished, voice tinged with a rawness that struck Zac. Sudden guilt opened up a small pit in his chest. He'd been so concerned with his own woes, he hadn't considered how lonely Evie must have felt without him around to be there for her when it came to the little things.

"Come here," he sighed, and pulled her into a hug.

Evie buried her head in his shoulder and he tighten his arms for a second, before the sensation of hugging her like this—virtually naked and wet—registered and he let go as quickly as he dared. _Pretend it's just like wearing a bikini,_ he reminded himself.

She really did make a pretty mermaid, though.

"Thanks," she smiled. "I think I needed that. And I'm sorry, for unloading all that on you when you've got so much on your plate as well."

He shook his head. "It's fine." He flashed her a grin. "Remember, Veridia may have taken my legs, but I'm still a land-boy at heart."

Evie looked at him sternly. Her mouth pursed, eyes scrunching. She reached out, hand coming to rest on his shoulder. "Zac…do you really believe that? I think you've always been a merman at heart, with the way you've always loved the water." Her look turned knowing and he shrugged lightly.

"Well, okay, I guess you can look at it from the other perspective, if you want…"

Evie gave him one of her tiny, sincere smiles. "You have to admit, you've been adapting well. I just think you're more suited to this life than you think, and that's why I was so worried."

He could see the earnestness in her eyes and reached up to cover her hand with his. "Sure," he said. "Maybe if I had a real pod and…I dunno, there was more to do… Evie, I'm going crazy, there's nothing to _do_."

Evie's fingers found his and their hands tangled and dropped to the water. She shot him a puzzled look. "What about the girls? Mimmi? I thought they were sort of like a pod."

He huffed out a breath. "They're never around! Mimmi has her job, so does Sirena, and Ondina will only spend so much time with me before she gets annoyed." They exchanged knowing glances. Ondina's personality had never been the most fuzzy. Zac liked her well enough, but they'd never be best friends.

"Okay, I get it. I'll try to save some more time to hang out, but I've got the shop to run, and…" Evie trailed off apologetically, fingers squeezing around his.

"I get it," he assured her. And he did. It didn't stop it from sucking though. As awesome and responsible as his girlfriend was—and as amazing a person as that made her—for once he kind of wished she could neglect her responsibilities, just for a while.

That was wishful thinking, and that was all it would ever be.

Suddenly, Evie laughed. "Okay, but seriously, don't you think we're like one of those fantasy romance stories? The merman and the land girl, trying to overcome the great divide between land and sea!" She grinned, rolling a hand dramatically.

He winced. "Okay, okay, please. Let's not go that far, okay?" Just the words 'fantasy' and 'romance' together made him want to cringe. "Besides, you have your own tail. It's not like the ocean is some great barrier between us."

Evie bit her lip for just a second, before her expression morphed into a pleasant smile. "Of course, you're right. It's not that bad, is it?"

Zac tilted his head and hid the concern that tried to pucker his brow. He smoothed his expression and smiled back, but inside he worried a little. Why didn't Evie believe him? Why was she _so_ worried that he was just going to swim off into the great blue beyond and never turn back? It was like they had backtracked to the beginning, when he'd first got his tail and Cam had convinced her the mermaids were trying to steal him away. He had thought those fears long gone—in fact, he was sure of it—so where were these new fears coming from? Hadn't he made it abundantly clear he wanted his legs, and his _life_ , back?

"Okay, how about half an hour, we'll go see the dolphins and then you can get back to work?" he offered.

An exaggerated look of thoughtfulness crossed her face, before she grinned at him. "Okay, Zac, you win!"

Smiling back, he grabbed her hand and together they ducked back underwater.

* * *

Swimming side by side, Zac lead them to the dolphin pod's play ground. While normally he would have been filled with excitement at showing off how well he was now able to communicate with them, suddenly he was seeing all these little expressions on Evie's face that lead him to wonder if she was still thinking about losing him. She thought he was adapting 'too well', which was stupid. He was just doing his best to survive and not die of boredom, that was all. Anyone else in his position could and would do the same.

He could tell she had fun with the dolphins, that she loved their playful nature and genuinely enjoyed herself. Maybe she wasn't even thinking about her concerns anymore and Zac was just being paranoid. He couldn't help but wonder though, now that she had brought it up, and it coloured every decision he made, made him second guess every interaction.

Finally, after half an hour of swimming with the dolphins, and watching Evie's bright smile, he firmly told himself to stop worrying about something he couldn't change, and just make sure he reminded her as often as possible that he missed her and missed land and couldn't wait to be back.

Besides, he still had bigger things to worry about—like how he was going to tell his parents the truth.

* * *

 _[17.11.16] Some old fears resurface for Evie, and Zac tries to figure out how to tell his parents without causing them to panic and do something rash. Now, I promise, the next chapter will have something a bit more exciting since so far it's been a lot of introspection these past few chapters, but these minor plot points just had to be explored first. Also, I may just have a bit of a thing for long, dramatic build-ups...sorrynotsorry?_


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